The Learning Curve

I believe that if you were to plot the trajectory of one’s life,

Particularly of a good and blessed

life, such as the one with which I have been blessed,

You would see it as a huge curve,

A learning curve.

Plotting the points, one will find--

Things that I had rather not learned.

But I learned them.

Can’t say I always enjoyed it.

Things that hurt to learn that I haven’t forgotten.

Things I love to learn that I am still in love with

Things that learning one thing led me to want to learn another

And possibly things I have learned and already forgotten.

And may even need to relearn.

I read somewhere that in some cultures,

Children are given honey or sweets as a reward for learning their lessons,

But the one that taste harsh and bitter are the ones least likely to be forgotten.

After all, there is the Arabic proverb,

“He who burns his mouth on soup,

Blows on yogurt.”

Or “The one who has been bitten by a snake,

Gets nervous around a rope.” But overall, learning is sweet,

And its fruits are even sweeter.

It is sweet to learn something for a purpose,

But even sweeter to learn for no other reason than to learn.

I learned about watches and clocks

Not because time matters,

But rather because I want to make my time matter.

But if you follow the trajectory of one’s life

And see that it is a learning curve,

You will see that the learning begins at birth,

And ends when we leave this world.

And leaving this world, it is blessed to help others learn.

Because it makes your own trip worthwhile