This is a 2 by 4:
This piece of lumber gets its name from the dimensions of its face (2 inches by 4 inches). 2 by 4s vary by length and are popular due to their versatility and strength. For the purposes of this thought exercise, imagine you have at your disposal a 20 yard-long (~7metre long) 2 by 4 graded at C40 (also called glulam, these GLUED and LAMINATED pieces of lumber possess strength comparable to steel); rest assured, it will not be breaking anytime soon.
Now that I confirmed your knowledge of 2 by 4s, I will lead you on a mental journey — a virtual experiment, if you will. Form this piece of lumber in your head, rotate it around a few times, try your best to snap it in half with your mental muscles. If it is indeed graded at C40, it should at most bend slightly in response to your immense mental powers, but should hold true. If you’ve succeeded in breaking the 2 by 4, congratulations! Create another and try again — you want a really sturdy 2 by 4 before you continue! We shall begin once you have your very own 2 by 4 that will not bend nor break and will reliably hold your weight. From here on out, keep one rule in mind: Honesty is the Best Policy. After experiencing each scene, you will be asked a question. Keep track of the answers to the questions that come ahead.
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SCENE 1 — Down the hall
You’re walking down the hall and you come across a 2 by 4. You pick it up and notice that it’s exactly identical to the 2 by 4 you were thinking about earlier during your thought exercise. You place it back on the ground after twirling it around a bit. A friend walks by and issues you a challenge, “Hey you, I bet you can’t walk across the 2 by 4 from one end to the other!”
Question 1 — will you be able to walk across the 2 by 4 that’s lying on the ground?
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SCENE 2 — In the classroom
Leaving your friend behind, you hurry off to class. Unfortunately, your professor was one step ahead of you; you’re now officially late. Your professor decides to volunteer you for his first activity. He pulls out a 2 by 4 from behind his back and lays it across two adjacent tables whose surfaces are about a metre off the ground. You quickly notice that this 2 by 4 looks exactly like the one you tried to walk across earlier, and wonder how your professor managed to pick it up, lug it around and still beat you to the classroom. Anyway, you take a deep breath and prepare yourself…
Question 2 — will you be able to walk across the 2 by 4 that’s lying across 2 adjacent tables?
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SCENE 3 — In the gymnasium
Your professor dismisses your class a few minutes early; you appreciate the head start, as your classmates and you must now high-tail it to Osborne for your Physical Education methods course. You feel a weight in your stomach, and for good reason — you remember your facilitator rubbing his hands together with glee at the end of last class as he shared that you will be navigating the gymnastics equipment today.
Your classmates and you make it just in time. Your facilitator appears from behind a big pile of mats, her arms crossed, wearing a huge grin on her face. She exclaims, “I have a treat for everybody! Look up!” She points towards the top of the apparatus. Suspended between two horizontal ladders was — wait, what?! — a 2 by 4! “Hey, you,” she yells in your direction, “you’re first up! Climb up that ladder and walk across that 2 by 4, show ’em how it’s done! Don’t worry, I stacked up huge piles of mats on either side for you!”
Question 3 — will you be able to walk across the 2 by 4 that’s lying across two platforms suspended metres above the ground, cushioned by piles of mats?
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SCENE 4 — the Skywalk, at the Grand Canyon
Your last PE methods class long forgotten, you woke up earlier in anticipation of the Skywalk. You’ve heard a lot about it — a glass walkway suspended high above the Grand Canyon. You’ve always had an intense fear of heights so you’ve always thought this was a bad idea, but somehow your best friend managed to talk you into this crazy idea. After all, he just aced his Psychology 100 class; he definitely knows what he’s talking about. If Freud said that throwing yourself into the kitchen’s the best way to get over your fear of heat, then by golly, I’m gonna do it!
Clenching the metal guard rails with whitened knuckles, somehow you make it halfway along the Skywalk to the middle, most precarious position. Right as you breathe a sigh of relief, you hear the piercing sound of glass breaking. Spinning around, you noticed that a huge hole had opened up on either side of the pane of glass on which you currently stand (HOW DID THAT HAPPEN?!). You almost hyperventilate yourself unconscious, but out of the corner of your eye, you spot an old friend — a 2 by 4, just like the one you happened across in that hallway months ago!
You pick up the 2 by 4 and swing it over the closest hole… thank goodness, it goes all the way over! Your best friend points down and yells, “DON’T LOOK DOWN!” Since listening to him got you into this predicament in the first place, you decide to do the exact opposiOHNOWHYDIDIJUSTDOTHATAHHHHHHH!!!!!
Question 4 — will you be able to walk across the 2 by 4 that’s lying across a hole in a pane of glass suspended hundreds of metres above the Colorado River?
After you have carefully considered your answers, please CLICK HERE and begin to unpack the analogy! (The password is sel)