Last night spyMommy asked me what “non-scholastic” thing I would want to teach our daughter first. The first thing out of my mouth was reading, but that is when she added the “non-scholastic” qualifier to the question. Then I said that provided we were in the situation where we could afford it, I would want her to learn martial arts, starting very young.
That conversation got me thinking. There are a lot of things that I would like to teach her right away. Things that perhaps I wished I knew, or things that I’ve learned over the years that help me be a better kind of person.
The first thing that came to mind was salutations from around the world. To me it’s just one of those quirky things that might just be useful someday. Personally I’m no where near the level I wish to be. I’ve only got 5 languages of generic hellos, good-byes, thank you’s and a couple please’s that I can shout out at the drop of a hat. None of which are from the Middle East or Africa. So that could be a shared experience for everyone.
The next was salutary customs. There are a lot of cultures out there that would take great honor in a visitor knowing how to properly greet them. From a good handshake to a low bow and everything in between I believe it’s important to show the proper respect to a host or even a new acquaintance.
Being well read is also very important. It is unfortunate that you have to wait until college to be exposed to anything truly worthwhile by the education system. From elementary to high school I can only remember reading “All Quiet on the Western Front” and “Of Mice and Men” as part of the curriculum. Today I probably couldn’t even give you a general rundown of those books. Everything else was either by luck or gift that I found other books. I don’t read as much as I should, I go in spurts reading a lot, then not reading at all. Thanks to computers and the internet my attention span has shrunk to the size of a gnat, my appetite for mindless information has grown and my eye sight is pretty much worthless in normal light levels at 20 inches or closer…
With just these three things I see a person I wish I could’ve been much sooner than now. But with age you gain a new perspective on things, you find holes in your life you want to fill. But with age also comes fatigue. Its not so easy to find the motivation to broaden your ever shrivelling brain when even the most trivial things exhaust you. I couldn’t be more thankful for the opportunity to improve upon myself and bring up this version 2.0.
~sD