Glass flowers—and thinking for yourself

Written for children

Mary Trammell

The New York Times Magazine

When I was a little girl in Boston, my mom used to take me and my friends to see the glass flowers at the Harvard Museum of Natural History. There are over 4,000 of them. They were made a long time ago in Dresden, Germany, by a father and son—Leopold and Rudolph Blaschka. It took them 50 years to make them all!

These glass flowers are amazing. Each one is different. There are yellow black-eyed Susans. Gray-green ferns. Roses of every color.

And they look SO REAL. You can almost see them swaying in the breeze.

It's funny, though. Sometimes people forget that these flowers are not real. Last winter, a woman sneezed and sneezed when she got near one of them. She said that kind of flower always made her sneeze. Imagine how she felt when someone reminded her that the flower was made of glass. And that she'd been fooled into thinking it was real!*

Everyone was happy that Mary had learned to listen to God and to think for herself. And that she helped her family do that, too.

So it's important to know what's real—and what's not. Not just about glass flowers, but about everything. That's where thinking for yourself comes in. And not being fooled.

Mary Baker Eddy wrote a book that helps people learn to think for themselves. It's called Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures. "The time for thinkers has come," she wrote on the first page.

This book shows you how to look down deep at things. It helps you find out what is true, by listening to God. It helps you see how perfect God made you—and everyone else. It helps you remember how much God loves you—and everyone else. And it helps you stick to what's true. Even if you start to forget. Even if you start to get fooled.

That's what Science and Health did for two little girls I love very much, Mary and Emma. They're sisters. They're also my granddaughters. One time, Emma felt very sick. So she and her mom and dad prayed together about it. They truly believed that God was taking care of Emma—and loved her so much. But still, especially at night, they got scared.

Then one day, Mary thought of something special—something she had learned from Science and Health. And she told her family about it. "God doesn't believe that Emma is sick," she said. "God knows everything about Emma is good."

Emma really liked that idea. So did her mom and dad. And lots of times each day, they reminded each other that only good things were true about Emma. They tried not to be fooled into believing anything else.

Very soon, Emma was laughing and running around the house with Mary like she usually does. Everyone was happy that Mary had learned to listen to God and to think for herself. And that she helped her family do that, too.

That's what happens when you think for yourself. You help other people be good thinkers, too. You help them see what's true—and what's not. And that makes a huge difference to them. It makes them happy and healthy and safe.

Thinking for yourself is a way you can help the whole world. Because if everyone learns to be a good thinker, the world will be a much, much better place.

So spread the word. "The time for thinkers has come."

Mary Trammell
Editor

* This story was told by Stephen McCauley in: "The Glass Flowers," The New York Times Magazine (June 15, 2003), p. 62.

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