Giving Thanks

As the leaves turn in early in Fall in Philadelphia, I begin realizing the year is three quarters over. Not long before Thanksgiving I ponder (the holiday we celebrate with family and friends giving thanks). Some years go faster than others. I think it is all part of our chase for clarity, comfort and compensation for our work. Like many, I often get lost in work and have difficulty separating my work time from my other activities around family and friends. Blackberry, LinkedIn, Blogger, Facebook, Online Banking, ETrade, Amazon, Ebay, American Express, Expedia, New York Times, and other websites are just a few of the many distractions I have from isolating thoughts and giving thanks to my maker.

Whether one is religous or not, one has to consider circumstances and the randomness of life. My travels to Sweden was short this month, but a great exploration all the same. I always observe and learn new things on my trips. This trip to Uppsala was filled with observations and learning. Refreshing. I wonder where was I when I attended school sometimes. Did I not listen? Did I not read the text books? Celsius invented the 100 degree scale upside down. Darwin struggled to publish his work on the Origin of Species conflicted with his fear of public reaction and the impact on his family, notably his wife who was a devote Christian. He hid his work under the stairs as he troubled over how to reveal his insights to her.

The fun of learning is often lost in the abstraction and summary of the facts. What is fact and what is fiction? I have learned there is context. Every person and every discover has a story. We have perceptions of them. Maybe we push out the facets of what is behind events because they are not relevant to the facts of time, place and participants? Or, did my brain just push out all this antidotal information to make way for new information I am working on in the moment? We gather our experiences from events throughout our lives. The interactions and intersections are common. And, we often discount them, not realizing how important they are to molding what we believe and judge.

I was fortunate to have a great education that was contiguous in the first stage of my life. There were few distractions like we have today. And, as I get older, I keep running into information or uncover assumptions made that I have carried around with me for years. It is troubling to a degree. You think you learn what you need to learn in school to build a fine career. That is often how we are sold the idea of getting a good education from our parents and others who circled our life.

Living is learning. And, what we learn in school and what I give thanks for, given the season, is that I was fortunate to have learned how to rejuvenate myself through exploring what I don't know. Learning how to learn. The discipline of thought, asking questions, conveying new ideas and attempting to see how things evolve as new information is uncovered.

Learning is more than training. Training has borders and structure. It is oriented toward a goal and objective desired by someone who wants to convey information like teaching me how to throw a ball. Show me, then I do it. Practice and I learn the mechanics. Test me, and it reflects if my training worked.
Learning is more than that. It is giving me the space to question what is, what could be and why? It is not training me for a special skill, but offers me a way of thinking in logical steps to make new conclusions, inferences and hypothesis.

I give thanks for my love of learning. And, wish everyone the best this season as we venture to rejuvenate our connection to each other through sharing and goodwill.