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Mmm. Something's awry with this picture.
Why, it's the y at the end of the word, creativity.
It's missing.
It sure looks odd without the y.
And it certainly sounds odd without the...well, no...actually, phonetically, creativity might be pronounced the same with or without the y.
So, the y at the end of creativity is starting to feel a bit like the caboose at the end of a train. It's always been hitched to the back end, but no one's quite sure why.
So, why the y in creativity?
Was the creator of the word creativity overstocked with the letter y, and was he just trying to clear inventory? Had a slick talking letter salesman convinced him that the y was the new e?
Or perhaps the word creativity was conceived by the same smart alec who first spelled colonel. And Wednesday. And, while vacationing on the California coast, the town of Port Hueneme (pronounced, "Why-NEE-mee"). Now, there's a word that could have benefitted from a y--while saving a letter or two in the process.
It occurs to me, however, that perhaps there's genius behind the y in creativity. Just maybe, the one who initially spelled the word understood that creativity, in the end, is all about curiosity. It's about making observations and getting curious and asking questions and discovering connections. So, the y was cleverly placed to remind the creative to always have an inquiry on her lips: "Why?"
Make observations, get curious, ask questions, and discover connections.
I've been curious about a lot of things in my lifetime, for example...Why does a memorable tale always have three characters? Never two. Never four. Precisely three. A priest, a minister, a rabbi. The butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. I was going to offer a fourth example, but it just didn't feel right. � Why had the castaways of Gilligan's Island packed so many of their worldly goods for "a three-hour tour, a three-hour tour"? � Why did God make a platypus? Did he--after creating every other animal--have spare parts lying about? Or, was he just being silly? � Why do the wheels on cars in television commercials appear as if they're spinning in reverse? � Wasn't the Flintstones just a repackaging of Jackie Gleason's legendary "Honeymooners" television show? With Ralph Kramden and Ed Norton recast as prehistoric cavemen, Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble? � Why do we react in disgust to see a small mouse run across the kitchen floor, while we're sitting on the couch with a forty-pound dog on our lap? � Why isn't Gil Hodges--stellar first baseman of the Brooklyn Dodgers and, later, skipper of the '69 Miracle Mets--not in Cooperstown?
We live in a wonderful time to be curious. It's never been easier to find answers to our most obscure questions. In a previous generation, we might have resigned ourselves to seek answers to only the most pertinent, pressing, questions. Today, we can answer most of our questions with a press of the mouse. Not the one running across the kitchen floor. Your computer mouse. Now, wait a minute, why would they call...oh, well, that'll have to wait.
The point is, if you want to develop greater creativity, let the y at the end of the word remind you to make observations, to get curious, to ask questions, to discover connections.
Where's your immediate area of curiosity? Stop being satisfied with the unknowing. Follow the trail of curiosity that leads to greater creativity.
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