https://twitter.com/bretjturner/status/948336006054395904
This pretty solid answer shocked Turner a bit, I doubt he was expecting to start questioning his purpose in life when he wrote the riddle on the board. Remember, he’s teaching the first-grade class not some high-level philosophy course.
“The first guess from one of my 1st graders was ‘death’ and such an awed, somber, reflective hush fell over the class that I didn’t want to tell them that actually the answer is the letter e, which just seemed so banal in the moment. Before I finally revealed the ‘correct’ answer to the riddle, to a largely unimpressed audience, I fielded other guesses that continued along a similarly existential vein,” Turner tweeted. “There was ‘NOT everything,’ ‘all stuff,’ ‘the end,’ and maybe my favorite, ‘nothingthing.'”
The first-grade insight has left the internet questioning the broad, essential mysteries of life. We think it’s hilarious this all stemmed from a child probably just looking forward to recess and now we have adults trying to psychologically evaluate a first grader, oh what a world.
That the answer is “e” is rather interesting. Though “death” is certainly a much more profound answer. This made me think oh the novel “A Void", by Georges Perec. It was written in French, with no letter e’s; translated into English with no e’s.
— John Francis Nooney 🤷🏼♂️🤦🏼♂️💁🏼♂️🤬🏳️🌈 (@noonski) January 3, 2018
https://twitter.com/helsouth/status/948467835478556673
please, seriously, get that poor kid some help. When I was 6, I would have said bunnies, or the Virgin Mary, or something else warm and fuzzy.
— symitar babbler🦢🦚🦜🐓🏸 (@furmple) January 3, 2018
How is death the beginning of everything exactly?
— LonelyGoomba (@LonelyGoomba) January 3, 2018
Too much of a reach. I think they saw "end" and "eternity" and thought death. Less impressive than it's being made out to be. More an example of "jumping to conclusions" or "selective interest"
— Shazam (@robertredway) January 4, 2018
https://twitter.com/RegularEd/status/948886653036351488
In practical terms, death leads to new life. Your remains become a part of everything. We are all made of ancient stardust. If you're religious death marks the beginning of everything. Life is merely a doorway into eternal life in paradise with god (whichever one you worship)
— Sal Robins 💜🤍💚 (@Sal_Robins) January 3, 2018
When we die, our bodies become the grass. The antelope eat the grass, and we are all connected in the Great Circle of Life.
— Trevor Tipton (@Baikeru) January 4, 2018
The circle of life.
Just like Simba, folks. ‘The Lion King’ had it right, it was overflowing with timeless life lessons, and that remains true today. We should all try to think more like this woke first grader and maybe think ‘what would Mufasa do?” a little more in our everyday lives. I think that would make the world a better place.