Essays

This I Believe

Intellectual Selves

We learn everyday. Whether it's in a classroom or in our natural world. We learn and gain knowledge from the people around us. If we aren't learning we aren't living. From the moment we are born we begin this process. Our brain begins to cycle through signals that can represent rays of brightness flowing through our eyes or vibrations bouncing in the air. As we grow we learn that the brightness hitting our eyes is called light and the vibrations are called sound. We learn about science and how things came to be. How to read and write and find out how many pineapples that guy got at the store. Some of the simplest acts we do today we had to learn. The things we learn today will help us in our future.

Some believe that learning in a structured environment, a school, can be "too hard" or that what they are learning won't matter in "real life". I am a student too, and I know that no matter how frustrating things can be while you're trying to learn something, when you finally reach that "ah-hah!" moment and you finally understand, it feels amazing. Those of us that can learn in a school that has great resources, teachers, and friends to support you are very lucky. Studies show that throughout the world, nearly 70 million children do not have access to a school or are prevented from going. Also, in the United States there are more than 3 million high school dropouts, 36% of which happen in the ninth grade. So many either choose not to learn or the choice is made for them.

We must support these people that might be less fortunate than us or undermine themselves. We must show them what they are capable of and how they can impact the entire world. Towards our future if we don't allow others and especially ourselves to learn, from a teacher, from a friend, from our experiences, or from our mistakes, then we won't grow as people or as a community. When we stop learning is when we stop living. We won't change anything in our world or in ourselves if we don't try. There will always be new questions to answer and that's fine. We need to keep reaching for that answer and from that build more and more questions. You don't need to be the smartest person in the world, or in your family, or in your group of friends; you just need to help your friends, your family, and our world. However, we don't know yet, you could be the next Stephen Hawking or Albert Einstein, but no one will know unless you embrace the world around you and the knowledge it lends.

4-4-16