"Learning is not compulsory...neither is survival." - W. Edwards Deming
One of the things students notice and comment on when they come into my office is the number of books that I have. There's always a couple of new ones on my desk and I usually have a small pile of Amazon.com boxes lying around. They tend to ask...
"Why do you read so much? I can't wait until I'm done with school, so that I won't have to "hit the books" anymore."
I typically respond by saying something about always wanting to learn new things and not becoming comfortable where I'm at in life and losing the ability to lead if I stop learning. And I also tell them a little story...
My daughter Abigail approached me one day when she was four or five and said that she wanted to pick some flowers for mom and put them in a vase. I said that was a great idea and we pulled a small vase down from the shelf and she grabbed it and ran outside.
About ten minutes later, she came back inside. Her hands and face were covered with dirt. But she proudly held up the contents of the vase. She had crammed that thing full of ...weeds. They had miniature, yellow buds on them; but they were definitely weeds.
I smiled. She smiled. I said to her, "Those are real nice, Abby. But didn't you see the flowers we have blooming on the other side of the house?"
She didn't even know where the flowers were. So I took her outside and we went around the corner of the house. At first she smiled and giggled when she saw that we had some pretty amazing roses in full bloom. But then she started to put her head down and I could tell something was bugging her.
"Why are you sad? These are beautiful flowers!"
She raised the vase full of weeds up to me and cried, "There's no more room in my vase for the flowers."
I knelt down beside her and gave her a hug. Then I asked her, "Which flowers would you rather give your mom?" She lifted her finger and pointed at the roses.
So I slowly pulled the weeds out of the vase and laid them on the ground. Then Abby and I went to work, cutting a few of the beautiful roses off the bush and arranging them in the vase. When we were done, Abby was beaming as she carried the vase proudly into the house and set it on the table to surprise her mom when she got home.
Why do I read? Why do I strive to keep growing? Why do I continue to learn, even when I don't have to?
Because sometimes, I can only see the weeds and I need someone to come along and show me the roses. I often operate out of a narrow view of experience and my world expands when I learn from others. I often get comfortable with what I have in my own hand, then I meet someone who has some amazing things to teach me, and I realize that I need to set aside what I have (which may be good and honorable) in order to embrace something better.
I learn because I don't have all the answers (and I never will...isn't that a freeing thought?!). I read because I'm not arrogant enough to think that I don't have to. It's not that I think that I am the one that is always hanging on to the weeds and everyone else has discovered the roses. It's more about learning to be able to tell the two apart.
I just figure there's more out there that I can discover and I won't be able to find it if I simply rely on my own limited knowledge and experience. Besides, it's one of the best feelings in the world when you can turn a corner in your learning and discover some roses...some things that you never even knew before.
Love this Tim: there is nothing like a great story!
Rosa
Posted by: Rosa Say | July 15, 2005 at 11:01 PM