Copy Cats

As a growing child I used to play some games with my fellow boys of my village.

One of our favorites was making toy vehicles out of natural clay.

We would make our "vehicles" and leave them overnight to dry up for game the following day.

We used to play under the shadows of the mango trees of the village.

We would make "roads" for our vehicles and "drive" them along the "roads" by pushing them with our right hands whilst bending down and using both knees and the left arm for "propulsion" . This was not a comfortable game and our knees would be sore and dirty after hours of playing.

After some years someone came up with an idea that instead of pushing the toy vehicles using our hands and knees, we could affix some wooden rods to them for pushing them along the "roads" whilst standing . A "steering" wheel was fixed to the end of the rod. This innovation made our playing more comfortable. We were now able to play for a longer time.

Our parents who used to rebuke us for coming back home with very dirty knees were now happy with us.

During the time of "manufacturing" of the toy vehicles each boy made a toy using his own imagination as there were no blueprints to follow. However, there was one boy who had problems in this regard. What he used to do was to use a stealthy eye to copy what others were making. Since he could not cope up with the speed of those he was copying from, he used to mess up his toys. One time he destroyed his toy half way through and left us and went away sobbing.

Since the boy was one of my best friends. I met him later and consoled him when there were only the two of us. I showed him step by step how he could make a toy. After several failures and my persistent encouragement he mastered how to do it without any problem.

The other boys were surprised to find out later that , the former "car spoiler" as he was nicknamed, was now good at it.

What I have learnt in life is that if you are not good at anything , do not struggle to do it by trying to copy from others without thought. One should go into a step by step learning process. This could be achieved by self studying or being taught by others.

Some people have a capacity of studying on their own without sitting with a tutor in a formal class. Others can only learn by being coached by others.

We can all move forward in our lives by not being copy cats of others.