The Layers
"It's been a while since I've had this good a cry," said Doc. "This is a strong one, I should have cut it the other direction and made onion rings.""Maybe you could chop it up and put it in some chili," said Eddy, ever the wisecracker."You may decide that for yourself after this lesson," Doc said, straight-faced with eyebrow raised. "Because this onion is YOU."Doc then gestured towards Pete, who was laughing at Doc's remark, and then Doc pointed to everyone else in turn, "And this onion is you and you and you and you and you and you...and it is me too."Not sure what to think, the young faces looked back at Doc with varying expressions...a few giggling and smiling, one scoffing and a couple doubting. After a few seconds Bill spoke up, eliciting more chuckles."So Doc, you goin' for that Invasion of the Snatchers stuff?""Ya know, come to think of it," pondered Doc, "You're not too far off.""What do you mean by that?" asked Susan, taking Doc quite seriously."Well, have you ever thought about who you are, I mean who you REALLY are?" said Doc with equal seriousness. Then he quickly continued, thwarting any further wise-cracking to his rhetorical question. "In other words, what makes you think what you think? What makes you dress and act the way you do? What makes you believe what you believe? What makes you see the world the way you do? And when you look into the mirror, what lies behind the eyes staring back at you?""An onion!" exclaimed Miles, in a rare moment of humor."That's right!" Doc exclaimed back, leaving Miles wondering whether wind had just been added to or subtracted from his sails. "From one onion to another, that's the correct answer!""Huh?" said Pete."Doc's finally lost it," cracked Eddy."Eddy, have you wet your pants lately?" Doc returned abruptly. "I'm completely serious. Who taught you to go in a toilet instead of your diapers?""His mommy," said Pete."How 'bout you Pete," said Doc, "Who taught you to eat with a fork instead of your fingers.""He still eats with his fingers," said Milo on a roll."Carol," said Doc, "Why do you wear a dress, while Bill does not?"Eddy started to laugh but Doc cut him off, "Eddy, you still haven't answered the question, is it safe to assume you were taught not to go in your pants?""Yeah yeah." said Eddy."Marti, you go to church every Sunday," said Doc. "Why?""Because my parents have always gone," said Marti."And why do your parents go to church?" asked Doc."Probably because their parents went." said Susan."Susan, you wear your hair long, while Pete and the rest of the guys cut theirs short. Why is that?""That's just the way it is," said Susan. "Boys don't wear long hair.""Why?" asked Doc. "Who made up that rule?""Men used to have long hair, in the old days," said Carol."Yeah, and they used to wear wigs too," said Miles."Roman men wore dresses," said Bill."Those were tunics," said Carol."Same difference," said Bill."So why do men today wear pants and cut their hair short?" Doc asked. "Does some sort of law make that a rule?""No, that's just what our culture says is right," said Marti, feeling a bit the renegade with her own short hair."Ok," said Doc, "Let's get back to the onion, which, as you can see, I've cut open lengthwise from top to bottom. Now when we look inside the onion, what's one of the first things we notice?""It's made up of layers," said Carol, just slightly ahead of everyone else, nodding their heads in agreement."That's right," said Doc. "Now there's something else I want you to notice about the inside of the onion. Look at its center, study it carefully. What can we say about it? Is it a perfect circle?""No, it's not a perfect circle," said Bill, "It's more an oval.""That's right," said Doc. "Now, what else can we say about the center? Is it completely separate from the outside of the onion? In other words, do the outer layers fully wrap around the onion's core?""No they don't," said Susan. "The center of the onion seems to connect to the surface. From both its top and bottom the inside of the onion connects to the surface.""That's right," said Doc. "The core of the onion opens to the outside from both above and below. Now I'd like you to keep these things in mind---both how the layers wrap around the center of the onion, and also how the center opens to the surface at the top and bottom of the onion. Keep this in mind next week as we move on to a story...the story of The Man in a Cave."Ding.
