Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Life Learning

One of my favorite quotes on learning comes from Gandhi:


"Live as if you were to die tomorrow.
Learn as if you were to live forever."





My great grandmother, who lived to be 99, always said that the day she quit learning something new, well that would be the end. My great grandmother outlived three husbands and raised about 10 children on various farms in Mississippi. For a simple hardworking woman with no education, she was pretty smart.

Much of who we are comes from a long line of experiences, both family and people we have met along the way. Here is what I have learned from some of the most prominent people in my life:

Dad – Forgiveness.
Mom – Always do what you know is right.
Husband - Be loving, always.
Younger Brother – Be honorable in all that you do.
Sister – Live life with no regrets. (Passed of cancer at age 51)
Older Brother – Be generous.
Nieces and nephews – Time goes by swiftly, the young grow quickly.
Great nieces – Have fun, loudly!
Co-workers – Teamwork and joy in success.
Patrons – Treat each person with respect and dignity.
Supervisor – Lead by example, guide with compassion.

I could go on and on, however you get the idea. Now, what does this have to do with learning new technology? I see technology as a tool, a means to an end. It seems to make the world a little smaller in that we have a way to share our experiences and what we have learned with so many people around the world. And in turn, we have a means to learn from the experiences of other people.

While many of us prefer the human touch, these technological tools can be used to connect us in a way even our parents never thought possible, much less our grandparents, etc. (While explaining new technologies to my mother, she refers to it as simply “weird”.)

Each one of us will need to decide how to use these tools, for what purpose, and even which tools work best for us. For me, I welcome the chance to learn something new, because I suppose the day I stop learning something new, well that will be the end.

Onward and Upward,
Patti

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have this pix as my screen saver...it is gorgeous. Thanks for the nice post.

krl2pt0 said...

beautiful photo, wonderful lessons. i agree with your take on 2.0 tools - it's not an either/or thing with other activities, whatever our hobbies or passions. i suppose that there are always some tradeoffs - like that line from "Inherit the Wind" where Clarence Darrow says "you can have the airplane, but the clouds will smell like gasoline."

So mnany of these tools offer ways to expand our network and world (mostly a virtual world, but not always), the world gets bigger and smaller at the same time.

bc

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the comment, I completely agree with you about technology being an means of connecting even more with the many people that we meet...Lovely Photo!

kli said...

Pretty blog, Miss Patti.
=)

pattiahr said...

Thanks for the great comments.
FYI - notice the first comment is from a teacher in Texas! It came in right after I posted. Too cool!
Onward and Upward, Patti

Laura Warren said...

Patti,

You get the vote for the most inspirational blog!

Laura
Net 2.0 Team

Cronehenge said...

Thanks for the Life Learning Lessons. I have put a link to your blog in the text of my most recent post, to practice putting links to other blogs I like in my blog posts. Whew! So much to learn as we go onward and upward!

{My son's great-grandmother, Polly, who passed on at 105 years young, was the only other person I heard use that idea so well: Onward and Upward! She used to always tell us to "GIVE a good time" whenever we went out somewhere, instead of "Have a good time." She was awesome and made one think differently about things. Your wisdom reminds me of her and you're no where near 105!}

Accumulate Man said...

Beautiful list of lessons..I copied and pasted it for future reference and to share. Thanks..Salud!

Anonymous said...

Is that your pic?