What have we learned so far?
A child’s mind wants to know the answers to every question they encounter. If you give them an answer the question is closed. Once it is closed it is hard to reopen because they already know the answer. Dr. Hubbs didn’t answer my question, he lead me on a path of discovery and showed me how to answer it.
The path of discovery has no end; I’m still on it. If he would have just said, “That is a ratfish.” I would have probably become a mechanic like my father instead of a biology teacher, because the issue would have been closed.
Now the rest of the story.
Twenty years later I was visiting Scripts Institute of Oceanography as a graduate biology student from Cal State University at Long Beach. In my wanderings I discovered a room full of fish specimens. The main interest and emphasis in my education was ichthyology, (fish) and I was looking at the specimens in the bottles when I came on one that caught my eye.
It was a ratfish in a bottle. There were several there but this one was different because the label on it was incomplete.
The date was there, twenty-years earlier. The location was there, Cardiff in the surf, but under collected by, it just said Johnny.
I was standing there with the bottle in my hand when a man walked in and smiled at me as he walked to a desk in the corner of the room. I recognized him from his picture in some of the articles I had read. It was Dr. Hubbs.
I walked over to him with the bottle in my hand and said, “I have a question.”
“I hope I have an answer.” He smiled back.
“I was looking at this specimen and I noticed the information on the label is not complete. I was wondering why?” I handed him the jar.
He looked at it and said, “Oh, you mean the name of the collector? Well, that’s the only name I got. It was a young boy that brought it in and I didn’t get his full name.”
I said, “It isn’t an unusual specimen, how come you kept it?”
“I kept it to remind me what biology is all about. The wonder the young man had and the sheer delight that showed in his eyes when he discovered what the fish was is what I think of whenever I get discouraged. That curiosity and joy of discovery is what science is all about.
Sometimes we get too close to the project to remember why we are doing it in the first place. When I need reminding I come down here and look at that fish, and I remember why I like what I do.”
I said, “Well, I think you should complete the label, the last name is Reseck, Johnny Reseck Jr.” and I held out my hand to him. He took my hand in both of his and didn’t say a word.
Tears came to his eyes and he came around the desk and gave me a hug. He said, “Thank you for coming back and completing the label for me. I have wondered so often whatever happened to that young man.”
We had a long talk. We talked about fish, and school, and research, but mostly we talked about why it is so important to wonder. I never saw Dr. Hubbs again.
What did I learn?
I learned even important men who are leaders in their field get discouraged from time to time, and it is okay to have a crutch to help you through those hard times, even if it’s just an old fish in a bottle. I once told a friend who was going through a hard time that he needed a fish in a bottle and he thought I was crazy.
I also learned the importance of wondering. I define wondering as the combination of curiosity and excitement. Every child is good at it. Most adults have lost it to become politically correct and fit into their slot.
Don’t lose it, because it makes life an adventure instead of just a voyage.
NOTE: Dr. Carl Hubbs was one of the world’s leading ichthyologists.
John's Book of Life 