Another great reason why silliness and perspective are a clown’s best friends:
At a primary school recently, I was asked to help find a broom. I found a chair.
The two first-graders looked at me like I didn’t understand. In Hebrew, chair and broom almost rhyme. So, I explained that if they took me to their classroom, I’d explain to the teacher that although a broom was the goal, a chair was the result.
The teacher welcomed me in.
I wondered aloud why the need for a broom.
The teacher pointed up to the overhead projector.
There is no broom – a la Matrix – wouldn’t work here. The kids were too young.
So, I took a long look at the overhead projector. Then I looked at my feet, slowly measuring my height compared to the distance of the power button. And I looked at the chair.
Using hand movements, I asked the teacher: chair – educational clown – projector?
The teacher voiced my idea to the class.
Excitement ensued. Could the chair and a clown replace the broom?
I put the chair under the projector and got up on it. It was a tad short. I got off.
I surveyed the situation again.
I asked for a volunteer to hold the chair. A boy readily agreed to do so. And while he was holding the chair (which I did not end up using, but it was good that someone held the chair for the sake of holding a chair), I got up on the adjacent school desk.
Ta da! I turned the power on.
I thanked the two girls for coming to get me, for asking for a broom but getting a chair. I thanked the boy for holding the chair I didn’t need. I thanked the class for their support. And I left with the chair.
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An hour or so later, as I was readying to leave the school, the two first-graders ran up to me. “Oshi,” they said, “we need you.”
I apologized that I was leaving but would be happy to see them next week when I return.
“No. We NEED you,” they repeated. “The projector turned off and we need YOU to turn it on.”
I suggested they ask the maintenance guy on the ladder who was fixing something in the secretary’s office.
Or, I added, they could find a broom.
Oshi is a member of the Educational Clowning Center - Talia Safra in Israel.
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