Day 36: Well, one good turn deserves another! What can I do for you?-- The Doorknob

 "Well, one good turn deserves another! What can I do for you?"-- The Doorknob, Alice in Wonderland

After Alice falls through the rabbit hole, she encounters The Doorknob who comes to life after she twists the handle (his nose) to keep following The White Rabbit, hence the "good turn" remark. In Lewis Carroll's novel, The Doorknob does not talk, yet in Disney's version, he does with quite a few gems in a short time. In response Alice asks to be let through to follow the White Rabbit, which The Doorknob gives her tomorrow's gem.

Though it may not seem like that big of a quote in terms of meaning, it is full of meaning. In a way it alludes to Karma and it also talks about taking turns. Alice did something for The Doorknob (woke him up) and he did something for her in return (let her pass). Karma can be both good or bad. If you do something good, good will come back to you. If you do something bad, bad will come to you. Though very cliche, it's true and the most basic way to describe Karma.

Let's say you see a cute fuzzy honeybee getting some pollen from a flower, or some leftover soda syrup at a theme park. The little bee is just minding its own business collecting for the hive or getting the energy to fly. If you leave it be and just watch it or ignore it, it will continue on its way and you won't get stung, a win-win; more honey and no pain for you. Yet if you swat it away because you don't like bees or want to view the flower bee-less, that will scare the bee and put it in a "flight or fight" mode. It will fly and possibly sting you because it was scared; less pollen for the hive and pain and/or an allergic reaction for you. You could also manage to catch the bee off-guard and kill it, but that would mean no more pollen for the honey and his bee-buddies could wonder what happened to their friend. (Just because we can't fully understand their language, it doesn't mean they don't speak to each other like we do) Plus there's the feeling of guilt that follows when you kill something. So in this case, the best thing is just watch it from afar and enjoy a hard working (and endangered) animal.

Taking turns is always a good thing too. Life constantly has us taking turns: when driving, playing a game, getting something at a restaurant, even going grocery shopping. We learn how to take turns from the start. As babies, naptime, cuddling, feeding and getting diaper changes all take turns in its most basic form. Then when we become toddlers playtime gets a turn. With playtime, we learn we must wait and take our turn with the toy or in the game we're playing. We also start to learn that we have to take turns speaking and doing things. The cycle continues when we throw school into the mix around 5 (or younger for some). The teacher takes her turn speaking/teaching and the students take their turns answering/learning. It morphs later in life when work and driving are thrown in. Though it appears complicated by whatever life throws, taking turns follows the same basic pattern as when we were children: eat, sleep, play, work, repeat. Taking turns also is like making a choice. You can choose to go first or wait to go second, which means you're taking a turn. You can choose to make dinner or eat out, which means it's your kitchen's turn to be used for where you'll be eating.

So with that, it's tomorrow's turn for a new quote. Until next time, remember to Keep Cooking With Character!