2014 Gift

The new year is here. Looks like the old one to me. I wonder why we don’t get a better model each year, like a new car. Oh, well, it is what it is.

I watched an old TV rerun today where the focal point was the importance of education which caused me to think. It is a dangerous thing when a grumpy old man thinks. But, if I could snap my fingers and give everyone in the world a single gift, it would be education.

I’m not talking about making everyone doctors, lawyers, engineers, and the like. Just a good solid understanding of reading, writing and arithmetic, would help a lot. Instead of focusing on social issues and touchy feely, if everyone knew how to take the basics and think for themselves, most of the world’s problems would go away. And, most of the politicians would go away.

One term I hear used today is LI - less informed. That simply means that people allow themselves to believe what they are told without any facts or thinking for themselves. History has proven that this is how nations fall and citizens suffer.

True education is power and when used wisely, any individual can make the word a better place. But, I can’t give such a gift. Individuals have to want it more than they want anything else. Such as a story I heard that was supposed to be about Socrates. A young man asked him how he got so much knowledge. He grab the boy by the neck and stuck his head under water and held him. When he finally let him up, he asked the boy, "What did you want more than anything when your head was under the water?" The boy replied, "Air." Socrates said, "When you want knowledge that much, you will get it."

If you learn one new factual piece of knowledge everyday, in just one year you would be more educated than you were the year before.

PMO
©2014