Everyday object lessons

Aim:
If you let your bad habits grow out of control, you will be overcome by them (their effects) and will find it very hard to win over them. Therefore identify your bad habits at their roots and make your best to overcome them as soon as possible. Apparatus:
– Test tube filled with water
– Potassium parmanganate crystals (powder)
All pharmacies sell potassium permanganate as it is used as a disinfectant to wash fruit. Note that since the postassium permanganate is sold as powder you won’t actually see the crystals .
– spatula
– piece of white paper (A4/letter size will do)
Method:

Introduce this object lesson to your audience by saying that the potassium parmanganate crystals, which are very small (barely visible with the naked eye) can be compared to our bad habits, that can also seem unimportant. Now take a very small amount of potassium permanganate with the spatula, and in front of the class drop the crystals in the test tube. Mix well. Place the white paper behind the test tube and ask the class if they can observe any differences. Potassium parmanganate is very soluble in water so the colour would have changed to a pinkish colour, but not every one will notice this change. Observe to your audience that these little defects did not make any difference even if left unchecked, therefore lets repeat our behaviour. Add some more crystals (a small amount) and you should notice that the pinkish colour becomes more visible. With two more repetitions the colour of the water changes into a visible pink colour. At this point, point out to your audience that the small potassium parmanganate crystals have changed considerbly the colour of the water. So do our defects if they go unchecked they are capable of changing are character and the way people see us completely.

Aid:
With this you can build on with the story of the prince and the dwarf. The prince was walking in the forest when he met a dwarf that challenged him for a duel. The prince refused, because the dwarf was small and weak. But the dwarf wouldn’t listen and the prince was forced to fight. The battle was short lived in a couple of seconds the prince disarmed the dwarf and knocked him on the floor. The prince walked away. Time passed and the prince became king. One day while walking in the forest a giant lept out at the king and challenged him for a duel. The king had no choice but to fight for his life to the bitter end. The fight took a long time, but finally though exhausted the king overcame the dwarf and killed him. At this point the king realised that the giant was the same dwarf that he fought with years ago. The gist is that the prince should have finished the dwarf of the first time round. Because he didn’t, he nearly got killed by the giant. The same applies to our defects (dwarfs), if we let them grow unchecked they become (giants) which are difficult if not impossible to overcome.