Member-only story
The World We Want Requires Us To Be More Curious
Thoughts on the fog, the war and the law
The Fog
In 1937, Charlton Athletic goalkeeper Sam Bartram stood in front of his goal as a thick fog approached from the other end of the pitch. Soon the fog was so dense that he could hardly see yards before him. The fog swallowed teammates and rivals alike, and he felt alone between the posts. A long time passed while he saw nothing, heard nothing. His team had been doing well up until he lost sight of them, so he guessed they were still doing well and that was the reason nobody had come to bother him. After a while, a referee emerged from the fog to ask what on Earth he thought he was doing — the game had been stopped due to weather conditions fifteen minutes earlier!
Sam Bartram wasn’t an idiot. He may have lacked curiosity, or curiosity may have been trained out of him, but he wasn’t stupid, and he certainly wasn’t a coward. He stood where he was supposed to stand, he stuck to his duty and did as told. Haven’t all of us been trained to stick to what matters? Years of schooling seem to teach this above all else: if you do as told, pay attention in class, display a respectful attitude, learn what will be on the test, you need not worry about poor results or detention.