“Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young.”

- Henry Ford.

It's such an amazing day again and I am so happy to live in the moment. The day is bright as usual, the cock crows, the trees dancing as the wind keeps moving them, as they are left powerless but in control of the mighty wind. The whole vicinity is calm and peaceful. This is such a place I would want to be over and over again but in a more expensive and open place, perhaps where the ocean is, where I would stand at the window, having a free look at nature while I get mesmerized by the wonders of God's creation.

Hehehe! Enough of this charming sayings and let's dive into the topic of today.

As human beings, we have come to understand that as we grow, we learn and become wiser. If you are not ready to learn, you become a fool in your own little world. We all are ignorant until we learn something either from a book, experience or from social media. Each day must never pass without learning something to behold and be conscious of.

A child doesn't have any responsibility and so, all his care is dependent on an adult who would keep doing everything for him. As he grows into a young handsome boy, he learns what responsibilities are and takes charge of them.

At first, he is told to sweep the floor, wash the dishes, clothes, cut the grass, water the flowers, go on an errands etc all these are what he would be instructed to do as he has no knowledge of how to do things on his own. But as he grows, he is conscious of his surroundings and has learned good from bad. He knows it's bad when he sees something and do not act fast and when he does the right thing, he is appraised and applauded for a good job done.

Of course, a child will be happy when he is being praised and would be encouraged to do better next time. This is what we call "positive reinforcement" - being praised for something to ginger him up for the next.

I was inspired to write this article seeing my younger sister doing fine and taking responsibility without anyone instructing her on what to do. She knows the right thing to do, what to do at the right time even before being told to do it and it makes me understand that as one grows, he becomes wiser.

I remembered when she was between the age of 9-12 years, being the last born, she would not want to do anything and so, it's always a fight each day saying the same thing to her as if she has an issue forgetting what she did the previous day. What you say today is what you keep repeating every day and it seems she wasn't near to changes at all.

She had always acted like a baby, even when we remind her being the last born doesn't mean you should not know what to do. You are growing and before you know it, you will be in the University. Will you expect people to keep telling you what to do even while in school? I would keep telling her this. Take responsibility and be mature.

It amused me to see my sister changing and has learned that not everything she would be told to do but to get up and act fast even before she is being instructed. Even when she is instructed, hearing that she had done everything perfectly would give an encouraging comment which would definitely boost her to do better next time.

This thought came to me this morning as I was in the sitting room with my laptop working online. Others had gone for something important while she and I were left at home. She had done everything without anyone telling her to do it. While I watched her in awe, I was smiling and praising her while she was smiling too and I could see she was happy. I reinforced her positively by the compliments I gave to her.

She will be clocking 19yrs by August and I can see the maturity in her already and how she has been taking every responsibility at home without being told. She knows that very soon, she would be in school and no one would be there for her to give her instructions. She has learned that she is the controller of her life and no one would help her live it.

I believe you understand my point here and we need to understand the fact that as we learn, our knowledge of things is clearly seen and we are out of being ignorant of things pertaining to life, especially how we live our lives.

Take charge of responsibility as you grow and do not expect you will forever be told what to do when you know you should do it. You will only be a fool in that aspect and as we all know a fool at forty is forever a fool but I would want to oppose the fact that even at forty, one can still be wise if he or she had been the greatest fool ever. It all depends on how ready we are to take control of things around us and learn willingly. Have a wonderful day

Thanks for reading

Image by Daniel on Unsplash

[April 06, 2022] (No 96 article for the year)