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A Simple Way Not To Fall Behind: Choose Not To
The origin story of a child who became obsessed with understanding
Here’s my origin story: at ten years of age, I was given a book and asked if I could understand what it said. Since then, I’ve been obsessed with understanding the world.
The key was that the book wasn’t for children. It was a history book on Ancient Greece, if I remember correctly. And yes, I could understand it. Of course I could. I could read, so I could understand anything that could be written, couldn’t I? Ah, the innocence of childhood!
Up until that point I had only read children books. Moreover, children books came in different colours according to difficulty, which was based on age: 8–10, 11–13, 14–16, etc. Since I was a good student in primary school, I was compliant: I read what I was allowed to read. I believe having been a good student is one of the most embarrassing things I dare to admit to these days. To think that once it had been a source of pride. Consequences of becoming aware of the true essence of the education system, I guess…
Around the same time I had this first revelation about being able to understand what adults read and listened to, I realised something else: children weren’t the only members of society who were so very kindly treated like the idiots…