L is for Learn

I love learning. Learning about anything./ A new crochet stitch or pattern, a wacky animal fact from watching Dora or Diego with the kids, something about the kids or my husbands day, something about how my own mind and heart work, anything. I repeat I absolutely love learning. This even holds true for things I did not really like to know, like that the founder of my religion was a anti-Semite. Did not really want to discover that Luther had even more quirks than I thought, but I am glad to know more than I did the day before. I do not need to know many of the things I learn, but every time I learn something I become a better, more understanding person.

The more I learn, good and bad, the less I understand people on one level. I will never understand the hate people hold for those that are different, just because they are different. I can learn about one person's bad experience, bad day or something relevant to that singular individual that can help me understand their actions or words, but the hate for the sake of hate consistently escapes me. I think full understanding how to hate and fear like that is the only thing I do not want to learn.

On the other hand, the more I read, the more I learn about how other people think. How other people feel and react to things common, uncommon and completely fictional. Novels help be better understand other people's conception of humanity as well as the writer's imagination and varying styles. Non fiction shows me that even the most basic facts and figures can be slanted to fit someone's preconceived notions or left as they stand to allow others to draw their own conclusions. I have said it before, and I will say it again. I will read ANYTHING.I actually read my car manual twice since registering it last week. Once was because of brake complications (which have since been resolved) and then again yesterday to figure out some of the fancy settings for the auto almost everything.

I will read books that hold information I think I already know about gardening or plants, simply because there might be one idea that I have never considered before that might change everything. That hold true on almost every topic. I have read about several faiths, philosophies and technical subjects so that I am not ignorant on topics that can pop up in the oddest places; and specifically those which tend to polarize people. I will also pick up pure entertainment, and still come away learning something, even if it is the way to kill or defend against something completely imaginary (as far as I know..). You never know when one of those little tidbits can save your life. That zombie apocalypse is coming any day. Or is it nuclear power, global warming, Nick Gautier, the Iron Fey, Vampires, or Unicorns oh my that will bring about the end?

Apparently I need to learn got to get my two year old to sleep better so that I can, because I think this is my most rambling blog post yet.