Before we begin I want you to think back to your youth. A time of simple joys and mischief. Perhaps you remember running about and playing hide and seek around the forbidden parts of the playground. Perhaps you remember going behind the groundskeepers shed and forcing each other to pass out. I'm sure at some point all of my readers have had some sort of fun involving rocks, whether it be throwing them at some jerk, throwing them through some jerks window or using a rock as crude chalk to write about how much of a jerk some jerk is. Then we have people who have fun with rocks by observing them, what they're made of and trying to work out their history and how they fit in with their environment. Oh what fun THOSE kids must've been. I mean this is a person who loves rocks not as a tool, not as a weapon and not as a source of youthful mischief but because they find them fascinating academically.
I don't get it and I'm sure lots of people don't get it. Now I actually do a geology unit for my Science/Teaching degree and I gotta say that my lecturers definately find it interesting. Hell, when we went on out first field trip there were people who'd brought their very own personal geological hammers for chipping rocks out of the layers. This wasn't required. It wasn't part of the course. It was off their own bat, for their own enjoyment. I could hardly believe that I was seeing two busloads of students on the side of the road all chipping away and discussing their findings. Someone actually said, and I quote...
I couldn't beleive what I'd heard. I was suppressing laughter like you wouldn't believe. Here I was, out in the middle of nowhere with a bunch of rock crazed uni students and I was apparently one of the few people who just flat out didn't give a shit. Now I know it may not be what I'm into. Sure I don't give a shit if a rock is part of the matle, but you know what? I gotta respect geologists. Here they are in what is arguably the most boring scientific field and they're not afraid to admit they're having fun. So even though I don't understand why anyone would want to be a geologist I admire their passion.
I don't get it and I'm sure lots of people don't get it. Now I actually do a geology unit for my Science/Teaching degree and I gotta say that my lecturers definately find it interesting. Hell, when we went on out first field trip there were people who'd brought their very own personal geological hammers for chipping rocks out of the layers. This wasn't required. It wasn't part of the course. It was off their own bat, for their own enjoyment. I could hardly believe that I was seeing two busloads of students on the side of the road all chipping away and discussing their findings. Someone actually said, and I quote...
"I have a rock collection. It's pretty much just rocks"
- some geology jerk
I couldn't beleive what I'd heard. I was suppressing laughter like you wouldn't believe. Here I was, out in the middle of nowhere with a bunch of rock crazed uni students and I was apparently one of the few people who just flat out didn't give a shit. Now I know it may not be what I'm into. Sure I don't give a shit if a rock is part of the matle, but you know what? I gotta respect geologists. Here they are in what is arguably the most boring scientific field and they're not afraid to admit they're having fun. So even though I don't understand why anyone would want to be a geologist I admire their passion.
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