In an earlier post I had outlined some simple lessons that could be taught to little children – who are a Resource and not The Population Problem – about their inborn faculties, like the Sense of Gain that powers the “natural propensity to truck, barter and exchange.”
I have now thought of adding “practicals” to these classroom (or home) lessons.
Recall that Dennis the Menace is often found with his friend Li’l Joey running a lemonade stall on the street outside his home. A hand-written sign proclaims: LEMONADE 5¢ - with 'N' the wrong way.
Why shouldn’t all kids be encouraged to do such things?
These “practical” lessons in Catallactics will also be the most enjoyable.
Allow me to recount the story of a kid I once met in Kasauli, who ran a little chai-pakora-samosa stall on the Mall.
I was enjoying the winter sun on the Mall when I chanced upon the Jain Tea Stall. A little boy stood alone at the helm of affairs – and I thought, why not? I ordered some chai-pakora-samosa. They were excellent. While paying, I inquired as to where I could get a paan.
The little boy volunteered to get my paan for me.
I asked him his name.
“Tinku,” came the beaming reply.
I liked the little man.
So I decided to go back to the Jain Tea Stall the following day.
This time, Tinku had an assistant: a little girl named Sangeeta, even smaller than him.
Turned out that she was Mr. Jain’s daughter, and Tinku was a visitor from Delhi.
And so I asked Tinku about school.
He said he hated it. He wanted to run a chai-pakora-samosa stall in Delhi – and so his father had sent him to Kasauli to apprentice with his friend Mr. Jain.
Even Sangeeta said he hated school: they fine her 5 rupees if her uniform is not worn right.
I paid them 10 rupees and walked on, humming “School’s Out” under my breath.
well i agree with all what you have said except the fact that we are "humans and not animals"...i disagree their...however much we want to think that we were created by god the fact that we are animals and to be more precise mammals does not change...2+2 will always equal 4 eventhough some people might believe that god has given human beings to make it 7...truth remains as it is....what goes up will always come down...even if you believe that god has made gravity and earth...so putting god into the picture does not solve the problem it usually aggrevates it...it dilutes a classical liberal's stand....people are most welcome to believe in god...but for a classical liberal it should remain private...further, since we are animals we have the natural and logical instinct to protect our domain...the reason i use the word domain is because i want to make it as general as possible...as realtive as possible...what you define as your domain may not be the same as my domain...domain includes property, freedom to live, right to defend, etc, etc, etc...some people might not care if somebody else trespasses his/her property (in my opinion i am yet to find such people but i don't want to omit this because i haven't come across them)...however, what my point is that what we consider our domain is very important to us as animals...now how we react as animals to an attack on our domain is relative to...some people might he violent, some people might be indifferent/non-violent or just non-violent...take for example a dog...certain dogs are violent if their domain is attacked whereas some dogs will just walk off...the point i am making here is that we are all animals and we will behave as them because that is the law of nature and it will never change...however much religion, spirituality, etc. human beings/animals bring into the picture...
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