| Lal: |
Father, what is the significance of laughter?
|
| Da: |
It is a human physiological response to humor.
|
| Lal: |
Then judging from their laughter, the children at school found
my remarks humorous. So without understanding humor,
I have somehow mastered it.
|
| Da: |
Deck 15. Lal.
|
| Lal: |
Yes, Father.
|
| Da: |
The children were not laughing with you. They were laughing at you.
|
| Lal: |
Explain.
|
| Da: |
One is meant kindly. The other is not.
|
| Lal: |
Why would they wish to be unkind?
|
| Da: |
Because you are different. Differences sometimes scare people.
I have learned that some of them use humor to hide their fear.
|
| Lal: |
I do not wish to be different.
|
| Da: |
Doctor. I require your advice as a successful parent.
|
| Cr: |
Uh, wh, thank you, Data. I'd like to think I was. Well, please
sit down. How's Lal?
|
| Da: |
Lal is realizing she is not the same as other children.
|
| Cr: |
Is it lonely for her?
|
| Da: |
She does not feel the emotional loneliness. But she can not absorb
how isolated she is from the others. She wishes to be more like them.
I do not know how to help her. Lal is passing into the sentience. It is
perhaps most difficult stage of her development.
|
| Cr: |
When, when Wesly was growing up, he was an extraordinarily bright boy.
But he had a hard time making friends. I think the other children were
a little intimidated by him.
|
| Da: |
That is precisely what happened to Lal in school. How did you help him?
|
| Cr: |
Well, first I went back to my own childhood, and I remembered
how painful it was for me, because I remembered a(?) time I wasn't
very popular, either. And when I told that to Wesly, it made him feel
a little better. He knew I understood what he was going through.
|
| Da: |
I have not told Lal how difficult it was for me to assimilate. I did
not wish to discourage her. Perhaps that's an error in judgement.
|
| Cr: |
You didn't have anyone with experience to help you through sentience.
She at least has you. Just help her realize she is not alone,
and be there to nurture her when she needs love attention.
|
| Da: |
I can give her attention, Doctor. But I am incapable of giving
her love.
|
| Cr: |
Now why do I find that so hard to believe?
|