Knowledge

“Knowledge is power” is a saying that everyone has heard at least once in their lives. In these three powerful words there has never been so much truth. We start learning right from wrong as soon as you can walk. For many kids, their first word is “no”. Why is this? Maybe it’s because it’s something that they hear so often. No! Don’t climb on that. No! Don’t eat that. No! Don’t put your finger in there. From that point on we learn. We learn that doing right isn’t always fun. We learn how to drive our parents crazy while getting joy from it. Just telling them “no” over and over seems to get the trick done. Then we learn another word that makes our parents even more crazy. The word “why”. There’s something about being stuck in a car with a toddler who’s only word is “why”. Then the conversation goes something like this:

You: We’re going to see grandma today.

Tot: Why?

You: Because she needs our help doing some things around the house.

Tot: Why?

You: Because she’s getting older.

Tot: Why?

You: Because everyone gets older.

Tot: Why?

You: They just do. Time passes and we all age.

Tot: Why?….

At this point you want to throw your own kid out of a moving car. Of course,  you would NEVER actually do that, but you have thought about it (more than once even). Eventhough it drives parents crazy, this is how our kids are learning. They learn why things happen, that somethings are bad, why we need to help others, how to be a good person and patience. Not that they have any at this point, but they see you being patient with them and they learn from your actions, not your words. Children are like little sponges, picking up knowledge from everywhere. Good and bad kinds of knowledge.  Like learning swear words for example.  One day your little angel drops something and when they think no one is around they say “oh shit”. You do a double take and quickly ask… “what did you just say?”. “Nothing.” They say. Thats not what I heard, it sounded like you just said the ‘s’ word… By now your kid knows these kind of words are bad and that they should never get caught using these kinds of words, but every now and then they do. All of a sudden years pass by and we spend hours and hours learning algebra, history, and proper nouns. It seems that our brains get overloaded with all this knowledge that we are told will help us get to the next step in life. We sometimes forget that real knowledge isn’t just what we learn from books, school, or work, but that it is the knowledge of life that’s truely important. I’ve always been found of my grandma growing up because she seemed to be a fountain of knowledge.  Knowledge on how to respect others, how to follow your dreams, how to forgive, and that family is some place you can always return to. These are all great basics of knowledge of life, but what about knowing what to do in the tough spots of life? What do you do when the person who holds your heart breaks it in two? Do you speak up and let them know or keep quiet so you too don’t break their heart? What do you do when you have so much pressure on you to succeed and you end up pregnant? Do you keep this merical of life or do you walk away to protect your family’s feelings and hopes for you? Life will always be difficult, but the level of difficulty is up to you. You can always learn by watching others and learning from their actions first, like we did as children. Just growing up and what we’ve experienced over the years gives us knowledge. Answers to all our questions of why, either within yourself or from others give us knowledge. Knowing how others truely feel and not just assuming you know how they feel. Thinking is just guessing, but certainly not knowledge.  Get facts and look at all outcomes before making a serious decision in life, as to not regret it later. Yes, knowledge is power! It is the power that drives us. The power that fuels our world. True knowledge comes from life as well as books, and will forever be changing as we change and grow.