The Thanksgiving get-together is at its coziest moment. Uncle Joe is holding little Tiffany in his arms and amusing himself with the one year old’s cute smile. Every now and then he lets her hold his finger and she smiles. She pulls it towards her mouth and he snatches it away. She smiles again. Bob, a nephew of Uncle Joe, is watching this from a distance. He walks over to Uncle Joe and stares at Tiffany. Tiffany giggles.

Bob, “What is your name?”

Tiffany, “......” (a stare)

Bob, “What is your name?”

Tiffany, “......” (looks away and giggles)

Bob, “Hey baby, what is your name?”

Tiffany looks at him. Then with her eyes moving to Uncle Joe as if in ‘he’s playing our game’, she mutters...

“Tiennie”.

Doesn’t this bother you? Well, it sure bothers me! How does the brain work? How did Tiffany know what to say? What were the inputs, what was the context, how did her muscles move to say, “Tiennie”? With my very limited knowledge and very unlimited inquisitiveness I believe I am entitled to have some fun trying to answer some of these questions. To me, that is the process to understanding myself. Not a philosophical one, not a psychological one, but a brutally-black-and-white-logical one. It is a game. If I am proven right, we will all have won. If I am proven wrong, well, at least I will have tried.