Think Different

I freely admit to being a bit of an Apple fanboy. Not as much as I used to be, but I do have a lot of Apple products in my house. In 1997 Apple began an advertising campaign called Think Different. It lasted about five years. You may remember it.

I got to thinking about this campaign recently while hanging out with my youngest son. See, he thinks different. A lot different. And, we often have trouble catching up.

A few days ago while driving down the road The Little One yelled out, “Look, a circus cannon.” After 5 minutes of frantic searching we realized that he was referring to a cement mixer. Yeah, it does look a bit like a circus cannon.

A while back we went to Sears to pick up a new dishwasher. As we entered, The Little Guy said, “That’s where I hurt my knee.” And, he was right. Except he was 8 months old when it happened.

Me: Hey buddy, why did you put your dirty dish in the family room and not the kitchen?
The Little One: (with a perplexed face) Well, someone turned the house around and I got lost.

Me: Nice picture Buddy. Can you tell me what it is?

The Little One: That’s a farm. And, there is the farmer in his grave. And…that’s a bunny driving the tractor.
Me: We’ll just leave this for mommy, OK?

He accidentally hit himself in the eye… With his knee… Because he was “angry at his pajamas”.

Sometimes it takes us a bit to figure out the connections that he makes intuitively, but we are getting better at it. Each time he throws me for a loop I remember that ad campaign:

Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.
Apple inc. — Think Different Campaign

Is my boy a troublemaker? A rebel? A misfit or crazy one? No. Not even a little. He’s 6. Could he be one of those things someday? Yeah, it’s very possible. I’d be proud of him if he was. Go out and be an agent of change Little Dude. Daddy’s here to catch you if you fall.