9th-Grader Genius Built a Clock for His Class and Lands in Jail. I love Texas and got plenty of wonderful friends there. But when something stupid happens in Texas then the wrath of the other 49 states and the world is on Texas. For those who missed it Ahmed Mohamed's intellectual curiosity will lead him to assemble just about anything that comes to his mind. He is an inventor and is only 14 yrs old. And like all inventors he is always building, putting and creating what 99% of the world can't do. This time he created a clock and brought it to his school in Irving, Texas to show and talk about it to his teacher and friends. The 9th-grader arrived to his school and went straight to his engineering class where he showed his new invention to his teacher who with a leery look responded "I would advise you not to show any other teachers." Perhaps he failed to explain to Ahmed why he should not do such a thing since a 14 yrs old kid with a mini Einstein brain would not be asking, "why not... is just a cool clock built by me." The school bell rang and Ahmed dashed to his English class. While sitting at his desk his clock made a digital "beep beep.. beep" sound which annoyed his teacher. She traced the noise to where Ahmed was sitting and asked him what is happening. He stood up and walked to the front and show the digital clock to his teacher. If his engineering teacher scratched his head before saying, "..don't show it to anyone else" imaging how this English teacher reacted. Her face wasn't kind and looking into Ahmed's dark eyes she scolded him, "It looks like a bomb." To any inventor who is proud of building an innocuous gadget those harsh words would be an intellectual assault. Then Ahmed, like a dog's owner protecting his best friend, corrected her "It doesn’t look like a bomb to me." To the chagrin of the student the English teacher, which probably doesn't know the difference between a nuclear plant from a milk plant, decide to keep the clock with her and sent Ahmed to his next class. During his sixth period, the sorrowful Mohamed was pulled out of his class by the school principal Dan Cummings. By that time the young wizard was quite worry thinking that by now not only was he in trouble with the principal and some of his teachers but also with his parents. And what kid wants to get Dad or Mum upset. Instead his troubles were just starting for the principal marched him to a room where he was confronted by five adults with suspicious eyes, unfriendly faces wearing badges and guns. The officers searched his belongings and,like a machine gun, questioned the high school student at a fast pace. Ahmed said that the cops kept going back to the same question, “They were like, ‘So you tried to make a bomb?’ I told them no, I was trying to make a clock.” Then they would fired back, “It looks like a movie bomb to me.” Perhaps at that point if anybody had offered the policemen cups of coffee and doughnuts the men in blue would have been a bit more relaxed towards the gifted Ahmed. Or maybe even a flashing bright light bulb would hover above their heads screaming some movie sentences, "he is a minor.. a high school student... illegal questioning of a kid without legal representation... no phone calls permitted to call his parents.... his name is Mohamed" But cops are cops and they didn't want to hear anything from him besides, "of course this is a bomb.... can you guys hear the 'tic tac tic tac' I am so dumb that I brought it to my school so you all could see my handy work." Right after that the boy was placed in a cruiser and taken to police headquarters where he was handcuffed, fingerprinted and probably had his mugshot taken. By now the poor kid was probably thinking of moving to a far away place high in the mountains herding goats or lambs... for sure away from any form of civilization and authority specially cops from Irving Texas a name of a town most folks never heard of until he built a darn clock that will probably be the most famous and expensive one found on eBay. Pretty fast Irving Police top brass Larry Boyd and his advisers figured out that this "strange" object created by Ahmed which looks like a clock, tic tac like a clock and has numbers like a clock must be indeed a C L O C K. Boyd said during a press conference, which occurred after a national outcry following his arrest, "We have no evidence to support that there was an intention to create alarm or cause people to be concerned.” With not reason to keep Mohamed any longer he was released in the custody of his dad while all charges were dropped. The ignorance of science and a lack of communication from his teachers lead to this terrible moment. I am certain that father and son walked out of the police precinct quite mortified and flabbergasted not understanding what just have transpired which stung as if they had been frozen in an old black & white moment. Creativity is a gift that very few folks have and often not other person can even grasp the meaning of what has been created. Any person with unique talent must be nurture, encourage and given free wings to soar, observe and create pieces of sciences, works of arts, passionate poetry, powerful writings, moving music or strong touching photographs. Anybody else must sit down without clamping and controlling the free spirit and mind of any creative & constructive mind which will give birth to results that one day could be beneficial for our planet and mankind.
Is very sad when a digital clock made for a 9th grade class can be mistaken for a time bomb. Manuello Paganelli © 2015
http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/16/us/texas-student-ahmed-muslim-clock-bomb/
@IStandWithAhmed #MacArthurHigh #IrvingPD #IrvingTexas #texas #science #clock #blacklist #IStandWithAhmed http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/16/us/texas-student-ahmed-muslim-clock-bomb/