some thoughts from the argonauts that I may or may not have had myself – part two

Today’s post is a semi-continuation of the yesterday's post about The Argonauts... because nothing ever ends around here, right?

Thanks for reading.

Tim

Beyond itself, age brings nothing.

I’ve definitely heard a similar type of thought before – age is just a number, you’re as young as you feel, and so on. But I’ve never taken my line of thinking to this extreme conclusion.

I often hear about experience, the value of experience, the need for experience. And as I look over this thought once more, I can’t help but be reminded of experience. If age brings experience and all its invaluable wisdom, then surely there is at least some functional product of age.

But what is experience? I think it is doing something yourself because the right teacher isn’t available to help. In some cases, I’m all experience; in others, I’ve been taught so well I’m a high-functioning rookie.

Looking back, was it ever worth learning on my own? Was it worth spending all that extra time? Was it worth it just to gain valuable… experience... when the right teacher could have made all the difference? In a certain way, the answer is always yes. But everything takes time and I've been told I don't have an infinite supply of time left.

I think it is vital to teach others what I’ve had to learn on my own. Imparting what little I know to others is my most important work. No matter how limited these students of mine are, they almost always learn much faster from me than I did initially learning the same thing on my own.

This doesn’t mean I think no one should try anything on their own – quite the contrary, reader. Nothing beats a try. But I think we do make a fetish of 'learning from mistakes'. A blind belief in this concept excuses us from stepping into the adhoc teaching opportunities that arise on a daily basis (1). I don't think anyone actually benefits from repeating someone else's mistake – if anything, seeing someone repeat an error is an indictment on the observer and a clear signal that we all need to try a little harder to become better and more willing teachers.

Footnotes / analogies, a failure

1. I suppose it works just like writing...

It took me an hour to write this post and it took you five minutes to read it. Was it worth spending an hour to write something I could have read in five minutes? Would it be worth it to you, reader, to spend the next hour struggling to replicate the pointless thoughts you just read in your own words?

Well, actually…

Maybe it doesn’t work just like writing.