About four decades ago, when my wife, Maureen, and I were leading programs on sexuality in churches, we saw a video about a 1969 experiment at Princeton University that explored how young boys and girls responded differently to frustration.
Researchers placed children in a room where their mothers and toys were on one side of a glass barrier and the children were on the other. The boys tended to look for a way around the barrier or pound on it, while the girls often stayed in the middle and cried. Many people concluded that boys were simply better problem solvers than girls.
About a decade later, others took another look at the film and noticed adult hands reaching over the barrier to lift the girls to the other side. They posed a different question: Who was actually more successful in overcoming the barrier? My conclusion: the ones who asked for help!
According to Luke’s Gospel, when someone asked Jesus who his neighbor was, Jesus told a story that we know as the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37), then asked, “Who was neighbor to the man beaten and left along the road?”
In our culture, we tend to think of ourselves as “self-made” and try to live that way. In truth, none of us is who we are without the help of others.
One of the greatest benefits of the farm tours and Field Days at Grain Place over the years has been building a community where we can help one another.
Nurturing soil—nurturing community,
Jay
Editor’s note: Jay’s reflection refers to the study Sex and Age Differences in Young Children’s Reactions to Frustration: A Further Look at the Goldberg and Lewis Subjects.