Learn Lots and Push Your Pencil Hard

"Learn Lots and Push your Pencil Hard"

My little pearl of wisdom, "learn lots and push your pencils hard" actually comes from my father. I find this ironic because I never thought of my wannabe redneck Dad in a philosophical light. Every single morning my dad would say this to me and my sisters just as we were heading out the door to the bus. I never really paid attention to it. He said it every morning, and basically I thought it was just his way of saying have a good day. Now I understand what he was saying, to understand anything we must have a sort of education. He wanted us to be the best we could be and to be the best we must have knowledge. Even if that knowledge is hard to understand we must find a way to make it comprehensible for ourselves.

All through high school I think I self consciously tried to do my best just because my Dad did say this. I would work hard on my homework every day right when I got off the bus. I would even help my sisters with their homework because they were teaching things my parents didn't know. Once I got into the work force I think I applied that same thing. I would go in and shadow the person without being asked, or do the research or learn what I needed to know in order to obtain what I wanted to learn so I could be the best employee. In fact I still do that to keep up with the new tasks I do for my job.

Knowing too much is a hindrance. Say a person knew that the aerodynamics of a rock would not allow it to physically skip a crossed water with enough force. Since that person knew that it wouldn't happen they wouldn't try it. They would go through life just knowing how something would, could, or should work but never finding out the answer for themselves. Since most people have experienced the actual throwing of a rock over a glassy surface of a lake we know it can happen from experience, not because it was just something we learned.

It's funny how much another person influences your life. Just by saying a few simple words everyday my dad was guiding me in the direction I wanted and needed to go. This helped to make me the person I am today, so "learn lots and push your pencil hard!"