The Tree Climbing Fish

Just like any seemingly profound thought embellished with fancy graphics and double the dose of lilac hues, the following quote, often attributed to Albert Einstein, has become a pet meme for facebookers around the world.

Regardless of whether or not Einstein actually said that, we need to be careful when trying to understand the true nature of the tree-climbing fish.

"Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid."

If this is taken out of context, we run the risk of bereaving our educators and our future generations of the passion to impart and receive real education.

The analogy is not intended to undermine the growth mindset. Einstein, or whoever the heck it was, didn't mean to promote the thought that we are all predisposed with a fixed supply of abilities. That would have meant that fish cannot (and should not) learn to climb the tree. On the contrary, the idea of real education is, is it not, to teach a student what he does not know. Or even better; to teach the student how to learn what he needs to learn. This means that it is absolutely fine to teach a fish how to climb a tree if that is the skill a fish needs to survive in the realm of natural selection from a societal perspective.

For example, it would be important—even necessary—to encourage a child who is naturally inclined to arts, to learn math. This, when done without losing sight of her natural talents and abilities, is beneficial in making her develop a balanced perspective about learning and an appreciation for all real-life skills. By no measure does it mean that one should force the child to be as good in math as a mathematical prodigy or even an average student. However, recognizing that she needs extra help and encouragement to learn a subject she might not be naturally inclined to learn, is critical.

So the key is not to judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, but to still try and teach a fish to climb a tree without losing the appreciation for its ability to swim. Of course this is all figurative and sounds ridiculously erroneous in the context of fish. From the human perspective, recognizing the incredible potential of the mind to absorb new knowledge and to learn multiple new skills is not akin to undermining the unique talent of an individual. This human potential should not be suppressed as a result of recognizing a person's natural talent, but preserved and nurtured to provide him or her the ability to better utilize that natural talent in an increasingly multi-connected modern socio-economic structure of the world. Overlooking this crucial element would mean allowing the next Pablo Picasso to be exploited by the covetous traders of exquisite art only because the artist did not know how to conduct business with those who had the power to manipulate and oppress.

This is all fine from the perspective of human learning; but not so from the perspective of human vocation, the latter being the real subject of the forgoing quotation.

Too often we see that people end up in vocations they are not meant to be in. It wouldn't be surprising if the art prodigy who was provided extra help and encouragement to learn math becomes a successful artist as well as the owner of one of the biggest art galleries of the world. But what if he ends up becoming an accountant? The fish might be able to climb the tree if it was taught to, but it would still be a fish. This would be extremely unfortunate.

The dilemma of our times is that too many of us are holding on to jobs we were never meant to do, but fear the alternative worse. As Charles Bukowksi said, "We become bodies with fearful and obedient minds. The color leaves the eye. The voice becomes ugly. And the body. The hair. The fingernails. The shoes. Everything does."

We become the fish that struggles to climb the tree but never gets to swim. We are fish out of water, and expected to compete against monkeys and squirrels, as well as poor turtles and penguins, too afraid to admit that we were never meant to climb trees because that is what keeps us alive; barely alive.

Freedom is an expensive commodity, and the thought of revolt; paralyzingly terrifying. It is a thought that we would not want to enter our minds. The fear of being laid off from work is greater than the fear of wasting one's entire life doing what one wasn't meant to. Such is the ironic truth of our times. And since all monkeys, squirrels, turtles, penguins and fish are expected to climb trees and be all the same at it, they are judged by their ability to climb trees. An accountant does not have to be an artist at heart; too bad he was born one.

Yet, not putting one's genius to use, not enduring the pains of revolt and giving up your right to achieve the excellence you were destined to achieve is like betraying nature. It is like being thankless for the most valuable gift you have been given.

Most of us choose to ignore the inner voice that tells us to be the best at something, only because we are good enough at something else. Then there are those who do not let their success come in the way of their excellence. Their fear of having wasted an entire life is greater than the fear of not being able to make a living and put food on the table.

Who would you rather be?

© Majid Kazmi 2015

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