The daredevil "spiderman" of the Cawleys.

Fintan is the kind of boy who surprises, not only by what he says, but by what he does. He surprises, because there is something in him that people overlook: they do not see the essence of the person, behind his friendly smile or his general sociability.

Last week, Fintan and his brothers, were climbing in a specially equipped climbing centre in Kuala Lumpur. This had several climbing walls and a giant boulder. On the walls, climbers were supposed to be tethered, since they were very high and a fall could easily result in serious injury. Yet, on the boulder - which was also pretty scarily high, if you ask me, people climbed untethered.

Fintan was climbing on the boulder. He was untethered and unaccompanied. However, his mother could see him from below. He was about five metres up, maybe more. He climbed with confidence and great certainty in his motions. Yet, he is only six years old. As she watched, Fintan did something unexpected. He leapt from one hold to another, propelling himself through space, five metres above the ground, to the next handhold, like some preternatural monkey. His aim was true and he grabbed onto the next hold, without incident. Down below, of course, his mother called up, in alarm and cautioned him. Fintan, heard, but carried on climbing, absolutely sure of what he was doing.

Many an eye watched Fintan as he climbed up the boulder, with fluid ease. He didn't only jump to his next hold, sometimes he swung himself from one hold to another, holding on with one hand as he did so. Again, he showed no fear, no worry at what he did: he just climbed on, with a joyful calmness. That cannot be said, of those who watched, below, however. I think many were worried that he might fall. He did, not, however.

This scene of a young boy showing casual courage, in an act of physical daring, is quintessentially Fintan. It makes me smile to think of it - but he showed a tendency to such courage very early on. Indeed, I have written, on this blog, of one instance, in which he wanted to fight a dog, who had scared his brother - he was only about three at the time. Now, at six, he still shows an innate bravery in how he conducts himself. Yet, I should point out, that his bravery is not without personal insight. He is brave on the rock, whilst climbing, largely because, I think, he knows what he can do. He is well co-ordinated. He is strong. He can hold his weight up, easily, on his fingers. His aim is sure. He just senses what he can do, without any real trouble. Yet, the fact that he is very high up, off the ground and any fall would lead to injury, doesn't bother him at all. He is very confident that he can handle the situation.

His courage whilst climbing is very noticeable, comparatively. Fintan, for instance, climbs to the top of the walls, he tasks himself with. Many climbers, young and old alike, "bottle out", when they realize how difficult it is, how high it is - and how scary it is, up there. Many adults quietly back out and climb back down, before reaching the top. Fintan, however, does not do that. He carries on up until he reaches the top of each challenge.

I am happy he has this quality. I only hope that he finds a meaningful purpose to bring this disposition to bear on. Courage, is OK, in itself - but courage should be deployed with a meaningful purpose. It is something which can be wasted on trivial pursuits that don't really make a difference in the world. That being said, I wouldn't like to see him put himself at undue risk. Whatever he does, I hope it is both meaningful and within the range of his competencies.

Happy climbing, Fintan!

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 6 and Tiarnan, 4, this month, please go to:
http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html

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Bravery and the young.

This evening I saw something unexpected on my estate.

As I wandered down to the shops, I noted, in the dark, an object in the road with three security guards standing about two to three metres from it.

At first, I thought that the darkness that I saw, on the road, was a part of a car and surmised that a crash had occurred. As my eyes adjusted, somewhat, to the gloom, I saw something else: a small "bin" with an attached lid, laying down on the floor. About half a metre away was a snake.

A snake? On my estate? Oh dear...

I carried on with my shopping trip, as the three chattering men waited, rather naively I thought, for the snake to oblige them by crawling into the bin. To aid it on its way, one of them shone a torch on it, perhaps hoping that it would flee from the light, into the darkness of the bin.

Half an hour later, I returned from my shopping to find a much larger crowd gathered than before. In addition to the three security guards, there were about four estate residents including a couple of "aunties" and a teenage boy.

One of the guards now had a snake catching device. It was a pole of unwieldy length - about four or five metres by the look of it. At the end of it, was a loop of wire, which the guard was trying to place around the snake's body. He wasn't having much success. Time after time he moved the loop across the snake, and each time he failed to hook it.

The teenage boy looked at the efforts of the adults with some curiosity and seemingly an opinion of his own. After a couple of more minutes watching the guard trying to catch the snake, the boy stepped forward, suddenly, towards the slippery one, reached out with his right hand, picked it up by the tail and dropped it, head first, into the bin.

Interestingly, the guards were not heard to either applaud or thank him -perhaps they felt a little embarrassed at the teenage boy's rather deft solution, given their ineffective half hour of deliberations (or more, for I only noted them after they had been standing watching the snake for a time unknown).

It was a characterful moment, to see the boy act so. However, I do wonder if this spirit of courage in him, might not lead him to harm one day. I hope he evaluates situations carefully before acting so bravely, each time, he feels called to do so.

I must say, however, that his decisiveness was impressive to watch! Well done to the boy, in question (he looked about 16 to 18).

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and seven months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, five years exactly, and Tiarnan, twenty-eight months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind.

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