Learning

Learning for me is a lifetime goal.  I don't mean in just the academic sense, although that always continues in my life.  Learning can involve so much more than intellectual knowledge.  It seems that I have always craved to *know*, to *understand* to *learn*.  Having facts alone just doesn't cut it for me.  I can be a parrot and spout the facts back.  That just isn't what gets me going.  In so many areas in my life, I want to know myself better.  I want to understand others better.  I strive to be the best person I can be.  My learning is not self-centered which might seem strange since most of my learning is about becoming a better person.  I don't care if I understand and can participate in a conversation about physics.  Things like that interest me, yes.  It is the day to day stuff that ignites a fire inside of me.
Today, I saw a woman standing on the street corner holding a sign that said she was homeless and that anything would help.  I don't have to be homeless to learn how it feels.  I am not in need of a lesson on homelessness.  In seeing that, it sets me off on a journey, exploring first within myself.  Do I have compassion?  What have I done recently in showing compassion?  And, where can I put into action that need to help someone else?  Questions like that rise in me so much of the time.  Some might call it self examination.  I call it learning, because, well, I learn from it.  Having the questions, isn't the end of the road for me.  The questions are not always the same.  Neither are the answers.  Homelessness has been in the news a lot lately.  Seeing that woman today took me from a casual viewer of the news about homeless camps to actively researching what is being done in my community and where I might be able to help.  It made me look at my own callousness that can and does arise with such things sometimes. In what ways can I be a better citizen?  How can I reach out and help?  For me, that is all learning that has nothing to do with a classroom.  What I do with the new found knowledge is up to me.  It is the same process when sitting through a lecture on a certain subject.  What did I learn?  How does it apply to me? What can I do with the knowledge?
Some would say that I am a researcher at heart, and they are probably right.  Some have called me an active learner.  I learn best through experiences and doing.   The application of what I am learning seems to work best for me.  There is a need to put into practice what I am being taught, or what I am learning.  There simply is a need in me to continue learning and I want it to continue growing!