The administrators at a certain elementary school held a science fair in the gym, and each grade of children attended in turn. This wasn’t the sort of science fair where the kids brought their own science projects; instead, professional scientists came and gave demonstrations of their branches of science. Their presentations elicited excited cries and laughter from the kids.
Dressed in a white lab coat, the chemist stood behind a table covered with beakers, test tubes, bottles, and implements like a Bunsen burner and blowtorch. She started out with a couple of exercises like changing the color of a solution and vaporizing a liquid.
“Chemistry,” she told the watching children, “is an amazing branch of science. It’s governed by natural laws. If you don’t understand these laws, or if you ignore them, then at best, your experiments and research will merely fail to bring about any great result.” She poured the contents of one test tube into a beaker. The liquid inside bubbled a bit and then went still. Some murmurs of disappointment could be heard among the observers.
“You may end up with an unstable compound that isn’t good for much. Or, at worst, you could really hurt yourself and others.” The chemist stepped into a circle she had roped off and placed a beaker on the floor in the middle. With gloves and safety glasses on, she took a pair of tongs and picked up a test tube with a dark liquid. She stepped over to the beaker and, leaning back, gingerly poured the test tube’s contents into the beaker.
BOOM!
The chemist jumped back as a roar and a billow of smoke erupted from the beaker; a split second later, the beaker broke into large pieces.
“But explosions are the cool part!” said one kid.
“Getting hurt is not cool,” replied the chemist. “You don’t want to have to go to the hospital with nasty burns or something like that. Now, on the other hand, if you learn the laws of chemistry and follow them, you can do fantastic things. You can change the world and make people’s lives better. You can help invent new products. You can create solutions that keep the world clean and make it a better place to live in. You can make medicines that reduce pain and even save lives! You can become a real force for good and progress!”
She leaned forward and lowered her voice. “If you know these laws of chemistry, if they become part of you, then you can become a real chemist, someone who can accomplish so much! But without knowing and following these natural laws, you’ll never succeed at such a wonderful career.”
The chemist stood up. “Now—who wants to see the laws of chemistry work some real magic?”
The kids shouted with anticipation.
“All right,” she replied. “We’re going to have some real fun.”
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The Weekly Parable 