Skiing in Hawaii

When I was in 10th grade, my physics teacher laughed when I told him that, on certain cold days in winter, you could ski on the Big Island of Hawaii. He also told me that a rainbow was merely an optical phenomenon that is caused by sunlight shining onto droplets of moisture in the atmosphere, creating a multi-colored arc. As a photographer, the study of light is kind of a hobby of mine, so while I know that Mr. Ruskin was technically correct, I also know that he was missing out on something a great deal more essential to life than what physics can present us. But, when I was called in for a parent-teacher conference midway through the year, neither my parents nor Mr. Ruskin were impressed with my interpretation of what rainbows were, or rather, could be. The "D" that I received in physics class that year did two things for me: it taught me that I would never become a physicist, no matter how hard I studied, and it taught me that things are not always as they appear, and that no matter what the cost, it is always worth looking at the world in a different way. Fortunately, Mr. Ruskin's class was followed by my law class, taught by Mr. Akey. Mr. Akey was hippie through and through, and accepted my truths of rainbows, among other things. We dissected John Lennon's "Imagine", and talked about how cool it would be to ski in Hawaii, and even though we were studying the law, he is the one that started me down the path of becoming a photographer. Still, whenever I see an amazing arching rainbow (as I did this past weekend), my imagination soars, my creativity sparks, and eventually I can't help but think back to Mr. Ruskin's class, and feel sorry for him.