Each one teach one

i was reading an interview by Latifah today and came across those words. so simple and clean. no obfuscation, no attempt to mystify, making everything ever clear.

she was talking about female MCs but it goes SO much farther than that. past gender race creed or culture. we all have skills/ethics/values that other people may not have heard/embraced/known. and as adults it is our duty/role/responsibility to pass them on. your life evolves from a single set of experiences to a fractally expansive life-experience with each person you teach.

love, patience, persistence, self control, self worth, humour, honour, basic human decency - all things i try and share with everyone i know and in the process i hope that they will pick up what they need. teach by example. and that's just the ethereal, then there are all the practical skills we can pass along to others: cooking, sewing, painting, furniture refinishing, basic plumbing and how to wire a light fixture, musical instrumentation, computer skills, relationship building, not to mention the all important correct usage of the comma.

my mom was a teacher. she taught me by doing things with me not for me. she was great and i miss her every day. my dad was a banker and never taught me anything about financial planning except that i had to save my own money for the rainy days, i should always pay my bills on time, and I should not overuse any line of credit. all good advice, but what about GICs RRSPs and pension planning etc. he lives in moose jaw and i miss him everyday too, but in a totally different way ;) i learned the lessons, i just have trouble with consistent practical application.

each one teach one, that's how you reach one. make a new friend, help an old one

"To be compassionate is not enough. You must act." Dalai Lama