Made in Humane Club
Jumper the rabbit was very talkative. One day, at school, a very interesting thing happened: Jumper was selected for a school basketball tournament.
Once Jumper came back home, he blurted out everything he could think of. But he didn’t say it in order. This is what he said:
“I got selected in the basketball tournament. While we were waiting for ma’am to test us, my friend said, ‘I like idli, dosa, podi, chutney, and all other kinds of South Indian food’. I saw a pigeon fly by then. Then, the teachers asked me to dribble the ball and try to score. Willow the bear and Midnight the owl also got selected. I asked the teacher to give me her phone number. She said, ‘questndvdi’. I then asked the teacher about where the tournament was. She said that it was in the SIS school. After the selection, we had music class”.
His dad had just come back from work and was tired. He was drinking his tea and said, “Good job.” Jumper then shouted, “You never listen to me!”. He went to his room, sad and grumpy. He plopped down onto the bed. On most days, his parents listened to him. Why not today? What made them disinterested?
His mom quietly came up to his room. She sat down on the bed next to Jumper and said, “It wasn’t like we weren’t listening. You said everything in a mixed-up way. We couldn’t understand a thing”.
Jumper said, “I thought I told the story in an interesting way”. His mom said, “Think about it. If it was making the story fun, would dad have zoned out while you were speaking?”.
Jumper said sulkily, “No”. “Then why all the fuss?” his mom said. “Think logically and narrate your story in a point-to-point manner. Then we would listen”. Jumper said, “I’ll do that tomorrow”.
The next morning…..
Jumper took a pen and paper. He made two buckets and sorted the events into them:
| Things to Ignore | Things to Include |
| A pigeon flew by the class | He got selected in basketball |
| His friend talked about South Indian food in general. | His teacher gave him her phone number. |
| They had music class | How practice went |
| Who else was there | |
| Where was the tournament |
But Jumper got confused with just one thing: “His friend had talked about the basketball tournament. Jumper wasn’t sure whether to talk about it or not”. But then, Jumper thought, “Maybe I should talk about it. It was interesting“.
When he went back home, he mechanically said whatever was in the “Include” bucket. This time, his parents actually slept. This is what he said:
“I got selected in the basketball tournament. My teacher gave me her phone number. It is questndvdi. Practice was awesome. Midnight and Willow were selected too. The tournament was in the SIS school. My friend was selected last year. He said that it was AWESOME.”
Now Jumper was very confused. He had kept this explanation VERY short. Why were his parents bored this time?. He prodded them awake. He asked his mom, “What was the problem with this explanation?”.
His mom said, “It was very boring. All that I was hearing was solemnly said statements. When I meant not too much drama, I did not say no to cool sound effects that you can add. I just said no to over-drama”.
Jumper said, “Ok. I will use these changes tomorrow.”
When Jumper came back from school, he told his story perfectly. This is what he said:
“I got selected in the basketball tournament. The teachers asked me to dribble the ball and try to score {Whoosh}. They wrote down my grading on a sheet. Willow the bear and Midnight the owl also got selected. I also asked the teacher to give me her phone number so that you could speak to her about the tournament. She said, ‘questndvdi’. I then asked the teacher about where the tournament was. She said that it was in the SIS school. I am sooo excited. If our school wins, we will get a big trophy and a cash prize. My friend was selected last year. He said that it was AWESOME”.
This time, both of his parents stayed awake. They did not sleep, and they did not start to work. They liked his story. From then on, Jumper used this strategy to make sure that nobody got bored while he was saying something.
Things to learn: Abstraction is knowing what to ignore and what to include. This concept is used a lot in explanations, storytelling, and more. But it also depends on who you are talking to. Depending on that, the abstraction will be different.