This response from a young pupil to their teacher’s riddle is heart-stoppingly powerful
“I am the beginning of everything, the end of everywhere … What am I?”
A primary school teacher in the US has gone viral after a riddle he set his class took on a deeper and darker meaning thanks to one of his pupil’s responses.
Bret Turner’s puzzle went: “I am the beginning of everything, the end of everywhere. I’m the beginning of eternity, the end of time and space. What am I?”
One of his young students, who would be aged between five and seven, responded with “death”.
The actual answer to the riddle was the letter “e”, but the student should get credit for thinking outside the box.
Before you go thinking this was just one morbidly aware student however, it turns out the class was filled with budding philosophers – with other answers including “not everything”, “the end” and “all stuff”.
Naturally Bret’s remarkable tale of existentially curious children has been shared hundreds of thousands of times, and started some distinctly highbrow discussions.
Maybe wait until next year Bret.
