Surely at some point, you should stop learning.
There should be an end to the learning and a start to the application of that knowledge. Far too often, we’re so caught up in trying to learn all the information that we forget the point of gaining the knowledge in the first place. Whether it’s gathering university degrees like badges — undergraduate, honours, masters, doctorates, and MBAs — or, burying ourselves in religious doctrine, we tend not to do enough acting out of all that learning.
My older Brother was a keen student. Being born first out of four, me being the ‘laat lammetjie’ — the last born — by the time I arrived 11-years later, he was already experienced in gaining as much knowledge as possible. My Parents were post-World War II citizens. When they were first married, they lived at the Government Village in Germiston, built next to an airport. My Brother’s first memories are of that time, watching the planes take off and come in for landing.
It’s where he fell in love with learning.
My Dad signed up for the air force for the war and spent time in North Africa and Europe. After the war, he became an aircraft engineer at South African Airways. His love for flying was a way for my Brother to get closer to him. Like most post-war fathers of the time, my Dad was a stern man working hard to make a future for his family. Children were to be seen and not heard. My Dad wasn’t the kind of father to kick a ball or play with you on the swings and slides. As a young boy, my Brother developed a similar love for anything aeronautical, creating a bond they shared for life.
Having a curiosity about a topic such as aeronautics, drove my Brother to learn complex concepts not usual for kids his age. It became a lifelong love for learning anything that interested him at the time. Growing up in a house with two Sisters born between my Brother and me, the two girls and two boys shared rooms. My Brother made sure our room was always filled with fun stuff. Whether it was model aircraft in various stages of completion, some new electronic experiment or Meccano construction, plus a figure-8 Scalextric track filling the room, there was always something worth learning.
My Mom chose to be a night-shift nursing sister from the time she graduated. As such, we grew up with a mother that was always home during the day. Her love for reading was shared with us children, nurturing a lifelong love of learning. Our home had a library of books. We had 2 sets of encyclopaedias — the equivalent of having Google on our bookshelf. There were volumes of Bible commentaries and children’s Bibles. There were also many classic novels, large format Atlases, dictionaries, books on space, nature, science, physics, history and others.
The perfect environment to develop a deep love for learning.
My Brother’s love for learning and gaining knowledge never ended. Right until shortly before he passed away, he remained an academic student in psychology, theology, sociology, nature, science and the wonder of flight. He taught me to love learning.
But it remains in applying that learning for the magic to happen.
Have an awesome weekend and please be generous! 😄
As always, thanks for reading 🙏
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