The advice to simply get up again after failure, to just keep going or try, try again! can be more painful than helpful. By that he meant that we learn the pretty, simple stories, internalize them and never return to ponder their import with the critical analysis and study of an adult mind.
My favorite religious studies professor in college said that most people never grow past a five-year-old’s understanding of their religion. Lest you all decide I’m overthinking a child’s nursery rhyme, I want to point out that these things stick with us. The metaphor fails to take into account the devastating emotional impact of being literally or figuratively washed away. It has no memory of the rain or ability to conceptualize that it could be washed away again, over and over, even drown in the next deluge. A spider continues back up the spout mindlessly, by instinct. The thing is, however, it’s not a useful metaphor in the end.
And it’s apparently about fortitude and determination, not letting set-backs keep you down forever. It’s a playful song, especially if you add the finger games to it. The itsy bitsy spider climbed up the spout again. Out came the sun and dried up all the rain, and The itsy bitsy spider climbed up the water spout.ĭown came the rain and washed the spider out. Spiders, though, can take care of themselves pretty well.īut it puts me in mind of that old nursery rhyme, the Itsy Bitsy Spider. I have to find spots to add water so I don’t chill the eggs or drown the hatchlings. I do worry about the finches, who love to build their nests in the hanging baskets. I don’t worry about them, because I know they’ll come back to their webs and continue spinning and weaving. Now that summer is here, I start my mornings by watering the potted plants on the patio, which always sets the spiders scurrying away.
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