Logically if not methodically, we begin to learn as soon as we are born and continue to learn until we take our last breath.
At first, it’s primitive like fussing loudly until someone changes our wet diaper or eagerly reaching toward food that’s about to be given to us. No matter how simple or direct our efforts, we are rewarded.
That’s the beginning of the first shelf of learning — what we learn from family. Not until later do we realize how many opportunities are provided by family members: the uncle who is an auto mechanic, the cousin who is an accountant, an aunt who is a school teacher, the father who is a supervisor on an automobile assembly line, the mother who is a vocational counselor. The stories they tell add to our learning.
It’s also from family members that we begin to understand how best to get along with people and what’s involved in wrestling with such emotions as anger, frustration and worry.
Then comes the second shelf of learning — pre-school followed by grades one through twelve, a myriad of challenges ranging from how to write to a sweeping overview of how the world works. That’s followed by optional learning offered by colleges, trade or vocational schools, and special courses.
While all of this is happening, we are gradually learning more about ourselves, deciding what personal relationships are best suited to what we want to do, and who we want to be with as we create a family, pursue a career, and continue to live the rest of our life.
Next is the third shelf of learning — what we learn on the job, the often confusing and difficult task of applying classroom knowledge and teachings to real challenges faced in daily living. Yes, we must be there at a certain hour, attend those training sessions, meet that quota, gain the confidence of an important client, be responsible for that project.
It makes no difference whether the job is with a corporation, government agency, small company, or a business you have begun. You are responsible for not only delivering as required or promised, but also being proactive in solving problems or preventing them from happening in the first place. After all, the purpose or motive is always centered on productivity that later manifests itself in making more money and assuming higher levels of responsibility.
From those and countless other job and career requirements or offerings, we learn how to search for and find answers to an infinite number of questions and how to meet and overcome challenges. Many times, whatever is involved isn’t a choice but rather is required or dictated by how it affects the bottom line. That it never goes away is often the reason we want to ease into retirement as soon as possible.
All three of those shelves are filled with either what is required or what we must do to be properly prepared for future employment. It’s through those efforts that we are able to get what we need and want.
Of all learning, however, none of what is on those three shelves is a substitute for what’s on that fourth shelf — what we learn from others as a result of our own initiative, learning made magical because little to none of it is predictable as to when, where, how, and with whom it happens.
Added to that uncertainty is the fact that everybody’s life has been different from ours. No matter how similar, there will always be differences in thoughts, beliefs, and actions. That’s the reason that as long as others are willing to share, we can benefit immensely from what they know and have accomplished. That applies to both successes that prove what works and failures that prove what doesn’t.
Almost magical is that just as there are no limits as to what we can learn, neither are there limits as to where that can happen or at what age. Every trip at any time to anywhere in the world not only offers the usual sightseeing but also unlimited possibilities for engaging with others who because of history or heritage, see the world much differently than we do.
All of that leads to this simple yet rewarding bit of logic:
Be the student by reaching upward and learning from those who know more than you and be the teacher by reaching downward and sharing with those who know less.
