Life's Moral Dilemmas and Lemon Jawbreakers

This Monday, I gave each of my fourth grade science groups a brown paper bag, taped up with masking tape.  "You are scientists," I told them.  "One of your most important jobs is to observe--to gather as much data as possible, in order to try to figure things out.  I want you to observe everything you can about what is inside this brown bag.  The only rule is that you cannot look inside."

I turned them loose to touch, pry, smell, and explore.  Some students got caught up in the brown paper bag and started observing that, rather than what was inside the bag.  "It's crunchy, it makes a sound when I twist it..." one girl said.

"But that's the bag," I reminded her.  "We are trying to observe what's inside the bag."

"Ohhhh...." she said.  I could see the question in her eyes.  "But we can't see what's inside the bag."

However, within a few seconds of handing out the bags, one student decided to smell the bag--which was emitting a strong, lemony-citrus scent--and exclaimed, "It's a lemon!"
"I'm not asking what it is," I reminded him.  "I am asking you to observe.  That is what you smell.  But what does it feel like?  What shape is it?  Keep looking."

It was not long before all the groups were sniffing their bags, assenting that it certainly emitted a lemony smell--and if not lemon, it was at least something citrusy..."like a cutie."

I watched as they felt the bag.  Whatever was inside was firm.  It was roundish in shape.  It wasn't very big.

"What does it sound like?"  I asked them.

"Nothing," they replied.  "We squeezed it and it doesn't sound like anything."

"Drop it on your desk," I prodded.  They looked at me like I'd gone mad.  Finally, one girl at the far table confidently raised it high above her head and dropped it on the desk.  I could see a room full of expectant faces with their eyes glued on her, awaiting the lemon's dull "thump."

"Thud."  It landed loudly, startling most of the kids.

"What did that sound like?"  I asked.

"A rock!"  one boy replied, utterly bewildered.

"Hmm...." I said.  "Interesting."

I wandered around, listening to them revise their guesses from a "lemon" to an "un-ripe lemon."  I urged them to seek additional information.  "Move the bag around so you can see the shape," I urged.

"It's round!" came the reply.  More hurried whispers.  I heard bits of  "....jawbreaker..."  "They make big lemon heads..." and "It still could be a not-ripe lemon."

"Will you tell us what it is?" a concerned students asked.

"At the end I will let you look for yourself and find out what it is," I assured them.

"I hate this part, though," one sweet little blonde girl said.  "I just want to rip the bag open and find out. I hate this trying to figure it out."

"Keep observing...you'll get to see it in the end."

After a sufficient amount of observing our brown bags, we sat down to discuss our findings.  One particularly bright future scientist said, "Well, I smelled it and I decided that it smelled like a lemon.  I knew that if it really was a lemon, it would squish when I stepped on it, so I put it on the floor and stepped on it." (Bless our janitor, who would be rolling if he knew.)  "When I stepped on it, it didn't squish.  It hurt my foot.  So I knew I couldn't be a lemon."

Several students nodded, seriously.  Clearly, a lemon would not hurt your foot and stay firm under so much weight.

Others refused to be convinced.  "Even a lemon that isn't ripe can be hard," they insisted.

When it came time for the student to weigh in on what they thought was inside, the most common answer was either a lemon jawbreaker or a giant Lemonhead, with a few still insisting it was nothing more than a lemon that hadn't ripened yet.

At last, the moment arrived when the groups could finally open their bags.  Imagine six students all clamoring for a piece of brown bag, trying to rip it apart as quickly as possible and finally discover "The Truth."

I cannot even describe the shock that filled out room as--out of five lemony brown paper bags--five golf balls emerged.  Five ordinary, white golf balls that had been placed inside that morning (along with a Kleenex dipped in lemon extract).

And that's when we learned a few important lessons:
1)  Sometimes, we observe something and make a decision without looking for additional information.  When we do that, we aren't always correct in our decision. 
2) Sometimes, we listen to what others say without testing it out for ourselves.  Also not a good plan. 
3) Sometimes we have conflicting information, and we're not sure how it fits together ("It smells like a lemon, but it's hard like a rock.").  We may have to gather more information or wait until more is revealed. 

I asked the students if "The Truth" changes.  Does science change?

It was a tricky question.

The bottom line was the golf balls were golf balls that morning when I put them in the bag.  They stayed a golf balls all day long on my counter.  They didn't turn into lemons or jaw breakers or anything else during the students' observations.  They were still golf balls. 

The only thing that changed was the student's information.  They started with one sense (smell) and concluded their unidentified object was a lemon.  They added touch and sound ("hard like a rock") and decided it was a jaw breaker.  They were finally able to see with their eyes and then determine definitively that it was a golf ball.  While they constantly questioned and experimented and wondered, their conclusions shifted.  Nevertheless, what was in the bag stayed absolutely the same.

Indeed.  The world has always been round, no matter who mapped it otherwise.  Columbus daringly did not fall off its face as he moved into uncharted territory.  Atoms and molecules have always existed, even before microscopes could show us it was so.  And while our views are constantly shifting with additional information and technology, the truth will always remain.

Let's also remember that there was someone in control of this lesson, someone who had planned it out, someone who was watching and overseeing it, someone who knew perfectly well exactly what was in each bag.  And as difficult as it was for the students to wait to have an absolute knowledge and answer of what they so desperately were trying to figure out, they were reassured that in time, they would know without a doubt what it was.

I have pondered long and hard about many of the issues facing today's world.  I frequently read many views on both sides of the fence of feminism, gay marriage, women's ordination, abortion, God's role in the nation, and other social and moral topics.  I have considered arguments and counter arguments.  Without a doubt, I have formed opinions of my own on each of these topics.  And in the process of all of this "checking out the brown bag" to find the real Truth, I have also discovered some important things.

1.  We have to accept that we simply do not know everything (Bummer, I know).  As much as we want to rip the bag open and "just know," there are still so many things we can't see.  We are limited to the best we can do right now.  We are sometimes confused by conflicting ideas, messages, and opinions, and aren't sure how they fit together. We desperately want to make sense of the world, so sometimes we just make up our own explanations that seem to make sense to us, and then share them with others--and often they are simply wrong. 

2.  Because there are so many things we have yet to see, it is not our job to hate others, reject others, or even convince others to come to the same conclusions that we have. 
It is, however, our incredible opportunity to share what we have experimented with and experienced and allow others to try it out for themselves and see if they reach the same conclusion. 
That being said, we also have the right to revise what we know as we continually receive additional light and knowledge.  The more we seek truth, the more we discover and find it. 

3. Despite the fact that we don't always know everything, there is someone who does.  There is purpose to what He does and there are lessons He is trying to teach us.  Even when we get caught up in the brown paper bag or the lemon scent (that frankly in the end are unrelated to the golf ball), He helps us to see by gently prompting us, "But drop it, and listen to the sound."  As many times as the students consulted with each other, there was a much more reliable source to listen to.  And despite the thousands of blog posts, forums, podcasts, and articles, we also have more reliable sources to turn to that have the truth--without a brown bag blocking it.  We must be wise and prudent as we consider the sources that our beliefs come from. 

4.  Someday--despite limited information, the inability to see all things, deep frustration at not being able to "know," the time required to find out the truth, and the conflicting voices all around us in the meantime--we will all be able to open the bag and see for ourselves.  It will all become clear.  We will see what is real and what may not have been real (regardless of how convincingly it seemed so.)

And so, for now, this is where I stand:
I am assured that there are absolute truths.
I believe that there are sources I can go to that have that truth.
I have faith that for everything that remains unanswered (despite my best attempts at understanding), there will someday be answers and it will all be clear.

It may be a surprise when--after all this time--it turns out not to be related to lemons at all.