The Story of Og
CHAPTER 1
OG GETS AN IDEA
Once upon a time there was a caveman named Og who had a Big Idea. It was such a Big Idea, in fact, that Og found it hard to sleep at night. Hard to sleep and hard to hunt and hard to do just about anything but think about his Big Idea. He thought, of course, about telling someone ā his best friend, Ugh, perhaps, or Aargh, his devoted wife ā but he just couldnāt bring himself to do it, not quite sure they would actually understand.
Back then, when men were men and stones were stones, even the idea of an idea was hard to grasp. You see, for hundreds of years people had pretty much done the same thing day after day: Crouch around fires, club slow-moving animals, gorge themselves on bear meat. Most people back then didnāt see the need to improve anything and those who did rarely āthought outside the caveā as Og was fond of saying.
āA pile of rocks ceases to be a rock pile when somebody contemplates it with the idea of a cathedral in mind.ā
āSt. Exupery
But not Og. Og liked ideas. Og loved ideas.
He loved them more than anything else. More than hunting. More than bear meat. More than sitting around the fire on a cold winter night and chewing the fat. Because the way Og saw it, ideas ā unlike the prey he chased day after day ā came to him. And at the oddest of times. Just before sleep. Just upon waking. Even in his dreams. In fact, it was during these times ā when he least expected it ā that Og began to get the first clues about his Big Idea ā faint clues, as if a friend, many miles away, was sending him smoke signals no one else could see.
āTo accomplish great things, we must dream as well as act.ā
āAnatole France
āWhy is it I always get my best ideas while shaving?ā
āAlbert Einstein
CHAPTER 2
DAZED BY THE POSSIBILITIES
At first Og thought it was indigestion, or worse, some kind of mid-life escape from reality ā a luxury no self-respecting caveman could afford, not with winter coming on. He felt dizzy Confused. Dazed by the possibilities. It wasnāt long before Og became consumed with his idea. So much so, that he soon lost interest in everything else: Hunting with his best friend, Ugh, carving bear teeth for Ogle, his son ā even pounding on his hairy chest.
To the rest of the tribe, Og was naramp poozka. He had ārocks in his head.ā While they foraged and hunted, Og āwhat iffedā ā much to the Neanderthalic confusion of everyone else. āWhat if we were all like Og,ā they grumbled. āWe would starve to death before the next big snow.ā
āNo idea is so outlandish that it should not be considered.ā
āWinston Churchill
And so they ignored him, afraid to death that they might catch whatever it was he had.
CHAPTER 3
AARGH!
So worried was Aargh, Ogās devoted wife, that she sought the council of Morf, the local medicine woman. Morf was the wisest of women and knew how to read even the most stoic cavemanās face. Tuned in as she was, Morf had already heard about Og and was intrigued ā especially about his curious habit of spending his days walking in circles and drawing strange little pictures on the walls of his cave.
And so she tracked Og down, fell into step behind him, and followed. Walked and watched. Watched and walked. Trailed along behind him wherever he went ā saying nothing, doing nothing, just matching his movement step by step.
One week passed. Then another. And another still.
And then, with absolutely no warning one bright Neanderthalic day as they circled round and round near the mouth of Ogās cave, Morf could no longer contain herself.
āCrankāa man with a new idea before it succeeds.ā
āMark Twain
āOg has an idealā she blurted out. āAnd a huge one at that. A wooly mammoth of an idea!ā
āWhat is now proved was once only imagined.ā
āWilliam Blake
Aargh was dumbfounded. āIdea?ā she asked, combing her hair with an armadillo quill. āWhat mean you, āideaāā?
Ugh nervously tapped his club on the ground. āIs it... contagious?ā
Ogle winced. āIs my father going to be all right?ā
But Morfjust laughed. āIdea good. Idea very good! I no understand it yet, but Og seems... well... better than usual. His eyes are brighter. Heās standing tall. Heās making excellent use of his opposable thumb. Frankly, I havenāt seen anyone this alive since Crouch.1
CHAPTER 4
THE GRUNT OF THE TOWN
Word spread like the rumor of bad reindeer meat. Og, quite simply, had become the grunt of the town. But none of this mattered to him in the least. He was in another world, content to ponder, muse, imagine, and think. Content, indeed, to do nothing at all but stare at the moon.
And so it went, Og wandering in circles no one else was a part of, mumbling to himself, while the rest of the tribe went about their prehistoric business.
That is, until Ugh ā Ogās best friend ā unable to bear the mystery any longer, tracked him down one cool night beneath a quarter moon.
āWhere did you get it?ā Ugh demanded, his brow deeply furrowed.
āGet what?ā replied Og.
āIdealā said Ugh. āWhere did you get your Big Idea?ā
āImagination is more important than knowledge.ā
āAlbert Einstein
Og shook his head. āYou no understand. Me not get idea. Idea get me.ā
āFew people think more than two or three times a year. Iāve ma...