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Ring Around the Oak Tree

© Virginia Marin

The Nursery Rhyme, Ring-Around-the-Rosey and that favorite childrens' game, Hide-and-Seek, which is found in numerous world cultures, brings to mind this thought-provoking or metaphysical problem involving the eminent psychologist, William James, and a group of his students who were studying the mores of a certain group of indigenous people...

...During a restive following a busy morning, James' students were sitting in a semi-circular group watching the playful antics of a squirrel on the large trunk of an Oak tree. On the other side of the tree, facing them, was one of their student members.

As the student moved to his right to view the squirrel, the squirrel ran to the left of the trunk, out of view, and stopped. The student then moved to the left of the trunk but the quick little squirrel ran to the right. This back and forth hide-and-seek continued for a playful time to the amusement and study of the observant students. Soon, however, their amusement turned into an argument which quickly served to divide the group into two camps.

At length James, who had been away from camp for awhile, returned. The students put before their teacher the divisive question of the squirrel and the student: Is the student circling the squirrel or is the squirrel circling the student? The prestigious psychologist took hold of the situation in his usual circuitous fashion.

But consider this: If the student passes the squirrel from North to East, then to the South, then to the West and then to the North of it again, the student is obviously circling the squirrel, because the squirrel occupies each of these positions which the student orbits.

If, on the other hand, the student finds himself first in front of the squirrel, then on the right of it, then behind it, then on its left and finally in front of the squirrel again, is it not obvious that the student is not orbiting the squirrel, but rather that the squirrel is chasing the student around the tree?

Actually, neither premise is right nor wrong but rather hinges exclusively on each student's viewpoint of the action. When they came to the understanding of this simple cause, the students were no longer in conflict.

The understanding of this concept can work to disarm many disputes which are simply a matter of varying points of view.

Different cultures have their own unique ways of settling disputes. To let the punishment fit the crime is one extreme method, an example of which removes the organ of speech from the offending party. What goes-around-comes-around is another more gentle punishment which says in effect: It will catch up with him.

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