Internet google search and discrimination

Searching the internet, one finds all sorts of unusual, precious and bizarre information. The truth is truly out there - and a lot of other stuff that has no category at all. However, have you ever wondered who does all these internet searches and why they are searching the internet?

I was left to wonder, today, at one internet searcher. Someone from Korea found my page. "That's nice.", I thought, "The third person from Korea in as many days." Then I noted something odd, but not funny. What search term do you think they had used to find my site? Think about what it could be. They had used a google search and their search terms were: "Child". That's OK...perfectly reasonable considering the site content. Their next search term was "Prodigy". That, too, was fine. Spot on, in fact. But what do you think their last qualifying term was? Just think about it for a minute or two, then read on.

The final qualifying term was "Dangerous". That really gave me the creeps. Someone in Korea either considers prodigies dangerous - or wants to find one who is. Either view is a massive distortion of the truth. A prodigy cannot be dangerous. A child prodigy is a child. Just that. A child who thinks at the level of an adult in an adult domain - but still just a child. A prodigy is both wonderfully gifted - and a wonderful gift to Man. From a prodigy, properly raised, given opportunities to express themselves, many wonderful things can come. Some of the greatest geniuses in History began life as child prodigies. There is nothing dangerous about genius or prodigy...it is the highest expression and development of the human mind - and on such minds our civilization rests. Yet, someone, in Korea, thinks of prodigies in a very dark way - thinks of them in terms of danger. The real danger here, I think, is in not understanding that a prodigy is no more, and no less, than a human being with a heightened mental ability. Such a gift is not to be feared, but admired - and in no way relates to the idea of danger, at all. The level of discrimination inherent in the notion that a child is dangerous is shuddering. Such discrimination must always be opposed, wherever it is found.

Since I began this blog, that single search has given me more pause than anything else. Are child prodigies really so misunderstood that someone could search for one in that way? If so, I have even more reason to blog than I did before. Such misconceptions, misperceptions and misunderstandings must not be allowed to thrive. If they are, those misunderstandings, themselves, become dangerous - to prodigies, geniuses and the gifted everywhere. Erroneous views of who gifted people are and what they are like, must not be allowed to thrive - for therein lies much danger to gifted people everywhere - and, since civilization depends on the lifetime output of gifted people, to society itself. Whoever you are, in Korea - relax. If you meet a prodigy, say "Hi" but do not expect them to be dangerous - anymore than a typical six year old is. Nor, too, should you even think of a discriminating thought, but accept them as they are: a prodigy child.

(If you would like to read about Ainan Celeste Cawley, six, a scientific child prodigy, go to:
http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html )