Education. Or Not? (Writing 101, Day 7, Let Social Media Inspire You)
Writing 101, Day 7, Let Social Media Inspire You
Education, or not?
A fellow senior Facebooker, aged 79, posted something today about finally getting his GED and considering moving out of his parent’s house. It was a joke, but some responding posters took it as fact. This Facebook friend jokes a lot, so I thought at least the finally moving out of the home part was just a senior lark of his. In reality, he told us later in the post that he had not, in fact, been able to get his GED, but was very grateful for the education he had received from his Mom, who taught him to read the newspaper, in two languages, no less, English and Spanish, so he would have something to converse about with anyone, on any level, out there. He said he had also learned to be a reader of people, which I found very interesting. My husband read people very well too.
The post led me to think about education, as I’ve often had thoughts before about the value of education, having been in that field for many years. I always say that I never did get out of school. I attended Primary and Secondary education, went to College to train to be a teacher and then spent the rest of my working life in one school or another, as a teacher, or as a student.
I responded to his post with this comment:
“Education is good, but it comes in all forms, not just from a piece of paper from school that says you can perform certain required tasks.
Wisdom is more to be respected and cherished and it is found in the nuts and bolts of living, not just in the realms of the formal education system.”
I’ve met a lot of “educated” people, and a lot of “uneducated” people in my lifetime. My husband did not have any more than an incomplete high school education, but, the majority of the time, he possessed a wisdom beyond all of those “educated” people. It came from his Mom. It came from his upbringing. It came from his life, and in later years, it came from knowing God. My Facebook friend also later mentioned that his wisdom came from God.
I’ll never forget what my husband, a First Nations man, once said about meetings he attended, particularly those with non First Nations people. He was disgusted that many people talked loudly, interrupted each other, tried to get their points across, without ever really listening to each other. He would listen carefully, keep quiet, and when everything was said and done, he would sometimes speak up and say something profound, very firmly and gently. He was well respected.
I retained a couple of pictures in my mind as a result of these observations. I’ll try to share them in writing here. I wish I had a cartoon representation, but you will just need to use your imagination. It’s kind of exaggerated, and biased, but hopefully you understand why. I’m just trying to make a point.
“We are in a meeting of NON First Nations people. There is a topic on the floor. Let’s just say it is an elephant. Everyone attending the meeting has a gun. When the meeting opens, they all start firing their guns. Some hit the target and others don’t. Some even wound the people around them. However, they keep firing, until the elephant is finally dead, and quite a few people are injured. Then everyone goes home, leaving the massacred elephant on the floor, and nursing their various wounds. Forget about the elephant!
Now we are attending a meeting of first nations people. Everyone usually sits quietly in a circle. The elephant is normally on the floor in the middle of the circle. The meeting is regularly opened with a form of prayer. Very few of these people attending have a gun, and if they do get it out in the meeting, they are asked to put it away. People take turns speaking quietly about the elephant. It’s as if the elephant is being explored carefully by hand, feeling it all over to discover exactly what it is from different points of view. People listen to each other carefully and wait their turn to speak. Respect is given to the speaker. When it is felt that the elephant has been sufficiently identified, it is let go. There is often a closing prayer, something offered to eat and drink, and people go home thinking about the elephant and wanting to get to know it better. There will be more meetings.” AJ
As I said, it’s exaggerated, and biased towards First Nations, and perhaps very “tongue in cheek”, but it represents what I’ve seen as the nature of the beast. I’m not First Nations by birth, but by marriage. I have been among them for many years now and learned much from them. I’ve been able to see things from both sides. I’ve learned that we can have all the education and intellect in the world and still lack common sense and patience, respect and kindness, compassion for others and wisdom.
A scholastic education does not guarantee us wisdom. Intellect doesn’t necessarily equate wisdom. In fact, the more we “know”, the less we really “KNOW”, it seems. We still need the wisdom of experience. We still learn from others. We still need wisdom from above.
17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. 18 And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. James 3:17-18 ESV
“You study, study, study, and at the end, you are lucky enough to discover the greatest gift of education: that you know nothing at all.”
Perhaps we have become this verse : “always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth” 2 Timothy 3:7
Some of us would do well to accept that great gift of education……that we know NOTHING AT ALLl!
Want some wisdom?
Get it from above!
AJ ❤
6 comments on “Education. Or Not? (Writing 101, Day 7, Let Social Media Inspire You)”
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Ann's Corner 
Praise God for your husband, for my wife, who like your husband is not highly educated but is massively wise. Education is priceless, but never does education exclude or circumvent the value of others. Your post teaches wisdom, peace, tolerance, and appreciation for diversity. It’s a lovely post. Glad to be following you!
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Thanks so much!
Though my husband is gone (2006) his wisdom lingers on. I have lots of memories to write about still 😉
Thanks for following! 🙂
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Never stop learning, no matter your age.
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This is a wonderful post. I pray that as I go through this season of my life I’ll find a way to keep my emotions at bay, step outside of my own life issues, and express my thoughts as beautifully as you did. Thank you for visiting my page and your kind words.
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Thank you! So glad you enjoyed it and got something from it.
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