Larry D. Lauer

My 15-year-old granddaughter, Page, startled me when she asked, “Granddad, is it possible to ever have a truly unique idea? I stared back, was silent for a moment, and then said, “Gee, Page, you just asked a very profound question.” She went on, “I was watching The Hunger Games and thought to myself,  that was my idea. I could have written that. How come that writer had the same idea I did? How could that happen?”

At 15, Page is already an accomplished artist and a writer. I have been looking forward to many rewarding hours of discussion about all kinds of ideas. But suddenly she put a huge one right at the top of the agenda. And now, how will I deal with it?

When I thought back on 46 years of teaching I was reminded of my own “creative moments.”  Sometimes ideas that felt totally new would seem to jump out of my head. I would be wandering around my classroom reflecting on the day’s topic, and bingo, out came a new insight. I would actually get startled. I remember thinking, “I have no idea where that came from!”

Are such ideas sent from God. Or do the come from somewhere mysterious out there in space?  Or was it someone elses idea, and I don’t remember from whom it came. Or was my brain so stimulated on the topic that it gathered fragments from who knows where?

I confess that much of my work has been putting together ideas in a way that cause people to sometimes say, “I already knew that, but you  put it together in a way that made me think about it differently.”  Could I claim such an insight as uniquely my own?

I think I can confidently tell Page that from my experience I believe truly creative ideas are possible, but I am not sure we can ever really be sure they are truly unique. In my case I am pretty sure that all the bits and pieces came from other people. My brain put them together, however, and the outcome I can claim as mine. Or, is it?

Obviously Page and I  have a lot to discuss as she embarks on a lifelong adventure in ideas and search for truth. I am not likely to have many answers. But I will share with her the deep satisfaction of living a life of ideas and creative thought, and relish every minute of it.