Word Out 2014

Ron Mueck’s Boy at the ARoS museum, Aarhus Denmark. Photo by Dan Riskin

This is guest post was contributed by the amazing Dan Riskin, co-host of Daily Planet on Discovery Canada, and the author of Mother Nature is Trying to Kill You.

When a tree makes seeds, the last place it wants those seeds to grow is right there on the ground next to it. A seed growing in the shade of its own paren't will compete with its paren't for nutrients, sunlight, and water. It’s far better if the tree wraps that seed up inside a delicious ball of sugars, so that some bird or mammal will come, take the ball away to eat it, and then drop the seed somewhere else by accident. (That’s why mangos are delicious.)

If you think about it, a lot of teenage traits make sense when you think of teenagers as seeds about to drop from the paren'tal tree. The most obvious of these is the way teenagers and paren'ts annoy one another – it’s an obvious mechanism to ensure that the family spreads out geographically. But perhaps even more importantly, teenagers are risk-takers, and that helps them succeed in the great big world beyond the family backyard.

I’m not just talking about the dumb things teenagers do that adults usually don’t. When I was fourteen I could do a front flip off a trampoline and stick the landing on the lawn. I routinely climbed onto to the roof of my building complex and stood at the ledge, four stories up, for no reason. I wish I could look back on those as victories of the human spirit over the oppression of authority, but no, I was just being dumb.

Teenagers take other kinds of risks too, though. They have to figure out dating, they have to navigate the Lord-of-the-Flies-like cultures of middle school and high school, and they have to figure themselves out. Their bodies are changing, and so are their brains. I think teenagers seek out conflict and challenges because that’s the best way to navigate the teen stage of life. Teenagers aren’t half-baked adults, they’re organisms adapted to the realities of their world.

One of the best things about the teenage stage of life is that curiosity really gets rolling about then. Teens will explore TV shows, websites, and books, that a lot of adults might overlook, having settled into preferences that are hard to break. I remember high school as a time when I really did some literary exploration. Catcher in the Rye, Siddhartha, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, poetry, all kinds of Shakespearean plays… Although I consciously try to read things outside my wheelhouse today, I come nowhere near that breadth now. It’s easier for teens to break ground on a new book for the same reason a teen can approach new people at parties. The “explore” switch is turned on. That’s a great thing.

My advice to teenagers is this: take advantage of this life stage which won’t last forever. Read as many different kinds of books as you can. Take suggestions from people you admire, but make sure you discover stuff yourself, too. I read my first book about bats when I was a teenager on a complete whim, and that led me to a whole career in science. A good book is fun to read, but there’s more to it than that. The books you read now will help make you into the interesting and educated adult you’ll one day become.

This stage won’t last forever, so enjoy it, even if it does come with the price tag of being annoyed with your paren'ts.

Oh, and PS – get off the roof.

You can meet Dan and find out more about his book this Saturday (July 19th) at the North York Central Library.

Meet Dan Riskin at the Library!
North York Central Library
5120 Yonge Street
Saturday, July 19
2:00-4:00pm