Want to be a god? If so, I have the formula straight from someone who is a god.    

   If you are a regular reader, you know that I have enormous confidence in the genius of human beings age 0-6. Pay attention as they pass age three and their ability to articulate improves.   

  At five, my youngest grandson, Reed Chapman, has arrived. "I am a god," he pronounced during a recent visit. "Not God. Just a god," he said.

   The key to learning from little kids is: always take their insights seriously.

   "How do you know you're a god?" I asked.

    "I can make it rain and snow and make the sun come out," he reported. "Look!"

    As I gazed over his shoulder at the Minecraft game he was playing on his iPad I saw this god in action. 

    A few adroit moves from his little hands and it started to rain. A few more slights of hand and the rain turned to a storm. 

    "See?" he smiled sheepishly.

   My son, his dad, had been sharing the Greek myths with Reed. The ancients knew how to tell stories. Everyone of them is filled with heroes and gods.

   Reed makes himself "god-like" with a game. Caregivers do it with touches that vanquish pain and smiles that concoct joy.

   The suffering need "gods" to bring relief. Pills and shots and other magic medicines can do that. But caregivers often seem like gods to their patients. 

   "You are an angel," my wife told the nurse standing over her after she awakened from surgery. 

    "Well, not quite" the nurse laughed.

    "No, really," my wife insisted. "I'm telling you I can see light all around you. You are an angel."

     My wife was right.

-Erie Chapman

[Here is the video of Reed being a god. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjUG5xfHkYk ]