#1205  Pink and Blue Cows
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I took my five-year-old son to visit his great grandmother, 
Ivestor. That's an unusual first name, but she's an unusual 
woman. She's 93 but that's another MountainWings issue.

This is about the trip home.

As I left her house in the country and prepared to get on the 
interstate, I noticed the traffic was nearly stopped. Evidently 
there was an accident or construction work that was slowing 
traffic to a crawl.

I decided to take the scenic, but slower, route home. 
It is a winding two-lane tour through the countryside.

I like to point things out to the five-year-old. 
He is very inquisitive and I especially like to expose him to 
the wonders of nature.

He was fiddling with a plastic motorcycle in the back seat of 
the Jeep when I passed a farm with dozens of cows in the field.

I told him, "Look at the cows!"

He glanced up with his usual attentiveness to something 
different; the cows fascinated him.

"Are all cows black and white?" he asked.

The cows could have been poster cows for Gateway Computers; they 
were black and white with big patches of both colors just like 
on the Gateway commercials.

I replied with the expertise and wisdom of a scientist knowing 
many things about nature, "No, all cows are not black and white, 
cows come in all kinds of colors."

Children ask questions. 

Some may seem silly, but underneath, they are pure scientific 
curiosity, the raw essence of wanting to know.

So my son asked me a question about cows from my statement.

"Do cows come in pink and blue?"

"Uhhh. . . no, they don't come in pink and blue."

"Do they come in orange and green?"

"Uhhh. . . no, they don't come in orange and green."

Suddenly all of my scientific wisdom seemed to be very stupid. 
After all, I had told him that cows came in all kinds of colors.

Pink and blue, and orange and green does fit the category of ALL 
kinds of colors.

"Do cows come in purple and red?"

"Uhh. . . no."

After three attempts to find out if cows came in what obviously 
fit the category of "all kinds" of colors, my son either 
realized that his father maybe wasn't as smart as he thought or 
simply figured out an easier way to get the information he 
wanted. 

He said, "Well, what colors DO they come in?"

My brain gears were already grinding. After the first two 
questions and my realization of my obvious blunder, I knew the 
questions weren't going to get any easier.

Hmmm. . .

Brown, yep, cows definitely came in brown. I had seen reddish 
brown cows but that was still brown. Black, white, and brown, 
those were the only cow colors that I could remember seeing. 
My "all kinds" of colors was one additional color.

That was a MountainWings Moment.

Yes, just a simple question about cow colors and my grossly 
incorrect answer.

Children observe our words and deeds far closer than we may 
think. They ask some good questions, whether expressed or not. 
Some we can't properly answer because we have given the wrong 
statement, either in words or action.

For the rest of the trip, I thought before I answered his 
questions. He kept asking questions about all types of things 
along the road.

A child's world is not limited by what we think we know. 
It is full of wonder and possibilities. 
As we age, our bodies and imaginations, stiffen.

Pink and Blue cows? 
No, they don't exist (at least I have never seen one).

If I had told my son that cows came in pink and blue, and orange 
and green, he would have believed me. 

It's the impressionable and trusting nature of the child. 
It's the responsibility of the parent to lead the child to the 
best of their ability.

It's your responsibility to correctly lead anyone that trusts 
you and places you in a leadership position.

I learned a very valuable lesson today.

From a pink and blue cow. . .


A MountainWings Original

Thank you for inviting MountainWings in your mailbox. 
See you tomorrow.