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Think back to your days in the first grade. What was on your mind? My thoughts never really went far beyond the simple pleasures of candy, football and my bike, so it is quite a shock to discover the deep and philosophical musings of today’s kids.

Teacher Bret Turner of Albany, California, decided to try and bamboozle his students with one of those annoyingly smug riddles, that despite its deep and existential wording actually has a boringly logical answer based on letter placement and spelling. “It was a morning brain-teaser,” Mr. Turner explained to Bored Panda. “It’s the first thing they see when they come into the classroom to get the gears churning before they start their work. We talk about philosophical themes on a first grade level all the time.”

However, there was one kid who was having no truck with such banalities. The novice Nihilist blurted out his startlingly sombre response to a hushed audience, leaving Mr. Turner at a loss for words in the presence of such profound wisdom. “When the student said “death,” there was a subdued silence that fell over the room, and I said something to the effect of “wow, great answer,” Mr. Turner revealed. “Young kids talk about death all the time; grandparents, relatives, especially pets. It’s fascinating to them, and also normal.”

Mr. Turner’s riddles often throw up the unexpected, opening doors to the unfiltered creativity that many kids possess. “A day in first grade is filled with funny, curious, bizarre, extremely deep, introspective, existential, eyebrow-raising quotes. It’s one of the best parts of the job, and rolling with it is a blast,” Mr. Turner told Bored Panda. “Guesses to riddles are always great, and often the “wrong” answers are better than the correct ones.”

Unsurprisingly, the class was largely unimpressed when the actual answer was later unveiled. “They were not that impressed with the answer. But they love riddles, especially ones that trick you a little like that.”

You can scroll down below to check out Mr. Turner’s riddle, kindergarten Kierkegaard’s brilliant response and some reaction from a delighted internet. Also, please feel free to add your own surprisingly deep and meaningful kids quotes in the comments!

(h/t: Mashable)

Teacher Bret Turner decided to bamboozle his students with a riddle, but it took quite an unexpected turn

People reacted with amusement to kindergarten Kierkegaard’s surprisingly deep response