Sunday, April 18, 2010

Cold Souls


My wife and I rented the movie "Cold Souls" over the weekend. We found it in the "Critic's Picks" section of Blockbuster.

It involved actor Paul Giamatti...playing himself....disembodying his soul to a company that specializes in this process...."The Soul Storage Company." While the movie turned out to be very entertaining, it was the first conversation between Mr. Fintstein (CEO) and Mr. Giamatti that caught my attention.

In motivating Giamatti to go through with this procedure, Fintstein cited an anecdote regarding the training of baby elephants. He stated that they are put on a short leash that is tied to a wooden peg in the ground. It trains them to not stray far as the wooden peg would stop them in their tracks. This effect is so profound that when they reach adulthood and could easily yank the peg out of the ground, they have been conditioned to think that it is an impossible task and therefore never test it.

Fintstein offers that humans never question their self-imposed limitations and the soul can end up being the wooden peg.

As educators, we strive to motivate and encourage our students to "move" their own wooden pegs to opportunities and pathways that not only enrich their lives but the lives of others.

What are you doing to "move" your wooden peg?

Thanks for reading. Looking forward to your comments.

1 comment:

  1. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.

    ReplyDelete