Coronavirus Caper: The Taking of Pellets 1-2-3

"ENGINE, ENGINE, NUMBER NINE, GOING DOWN CHICAGO LINE. . ."
First test: finish the childhood rhyme. "If the train falls off the track. . ." What is that statement grammatically? It's a conditional phrase. It sets up a precondition, and then opens a menu of options: "N O spells 'No'; and, out you do go" or "Y-E-S spells 'yes'; and out you do go." Regardless, somebody goes out, and, even though it seems continue a random selection, if you say "yes," the tenth guy is going out, but if you say "no", the eighth guy is departing the game. Same thing with the seeming random, in the mind of a child, "eenie meany minee mo", the sixteenth dude is leaving the game. It is not random, at all. But, at least with Engine Engine Number Nine, in the schoolyard, you are introduced to a concept that you will actually spend money, and perform course work to learn in a Six Sigma course: contingency planning, and setting up a decision tree. But, again, in the mind of a child, all of this is lost in obfuscation, and, engaged in childhood play, perhaps it is harmless to continue living on Fantasy Island, believing in a random determination, and, as you see, that suspended disbelief, or simple ignorance, opens a world of new possibilities, just like in magic.

Does it work in real life? Have you ever heard about a mother who suddenly found the strength to lift a large object to save a child? Even in jump school, in the army, where we truly believe in mind over matter, at least to the extent that if you don't mind, it doesn't matter, we teach young airborne trainees, just before they land to gaze at the horizon. Why? If you look down, you will reach for the ground, tense up, and probably injure yourself.

How about a religious example, since I gotta plug the Book. Peter was sitting in a fishing boat, sees his Lord and when he is called to go out on the water, what does he do? He jumps out a boat and starts walking on water, but then what happened? He paused to think, remembered the science, and begin to sink beneath the waves. Yes. A fisherman who didn't know how to swim. Imagine that one, and he was the rock upon which the church was built.

How about a science example? There has to be a Marxist who has read Berthold Brecht. Remember the Little Monk who gave up on science because he was concerned about his parents, but thought that Galileo was the solid rock upon which science was built, but who recanted all that he knew before the Inquisition, without even taken one beating? What happened? Galileo was old, and knew the science.