Sponginess (Patreon)

Many profitable analogies can be drawn between learning, our brains, and water. They can be really eye-opening. And, given that water makes up so much of our bodies, perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised that these analogies exist. Perhaps being made of water makes our behavior, in some deep, fundamental way, water-like. I mean, I still recommend you wear a wetsuit next time you go long-distance ocean swimming, but there’s definitely something there to be mined.

Children and their learning abilities are often compared to sponges, just soaking up all the knowledges. Don’t mind me, I always speak like Sméagol when I get excited. Or Gollum. Or whatever he’s calling himself these days; I can’t deal with these trans-species fictional troll dolls and their politically correct BS (lol WTF?).

Anyway, pretend-ranting aside, the likening of children to sponges perfectly misses the true point: the fact that these sponges are constantly being soaked in oceans of (generally well-structured) information. Always dripping wet, never allowed to dry. This is the salient fact. Worry not about what metaphorical material you’re made of, worry instead about how wet or dry you’re making your environment.

Adults generally soak themselves rarely and let themselves dry out. Adults have that power. You could be made out of sponge dark matter, but if you don’t get yourself wet (lol! phrasing!) and keep yourself that way, then it doesn’t matter how yellow, absorbent and porous you are, you will not be wet. A block of iron could be wetter than you.

Stop living dry like a post-menopausal woman (don’t act like you wouldn’t have gone for this joke; I know you’re human, too!). Get wet and stay that way. You’d be as spongy as any five-year-old if you just immersed yourself as hard as they do -- spongier, even. You’re a child, too. Just with a massive brain, a gigantic body, a bank account and maybe even a driver’s license: you’re one of the lords of the Earth! Stop wishing for the past and start using what you’ve got. Make good on this, here, now. If the past were perfect, it’d have given you what you want now, but it didn’t, so it wasn’t, and so now it’s time to improve the crap out of this, here, now.