Remember Why You Are Here

    Today I had strange moment. I was trying to help someone by giving some advice that I have found helpful in the past. It struck me though, when I said it, with the gravity of the advice. It was as if I was not only giving the advice, but also receiving it anew. The exact situation was that this friend was upset about making some simple mistakes when transferring answers from the paper where problems had been worked out into the computer where they were turned in and graded. So I asked. "Why are you taking this class?" The answer was, "To learn."
    There it is. I went on to explain that if you did the problem, did it right, and understand it, then as frustrating as making typing errors or silly errors, that shouldn't matter if you learned. The knowledge is the goal. The grade should be a by product.
     This hit me as profound, because I had always applied the logic to my academic pursuits, but I failed to see the application to the rest of life. I find that humans have a tendency to substitute trivial totems in place of real meaning. Grades instead of knowledge. Status instead of self respect. Material goods instead of contentment.
     Part of the challenge is that it is frequently easier to measure one than the other. How does one measure contentment? All too frequently material goods are substituted for contentment, because, the logic goes, if we just get x then we will be content. That holds no more truth than saying if I just get an A I will know the material. In fact, I find that in almost all of these cases, if you reverse the prevailing logic, you are closer to the true path. Get knowledge, grades will follow. Learn to respect yourself and status will follow. Learn contentment and you will have all the material goods you need.

Maybe we are all just backwards.

I need to remind myself:

Remember Why You Are Here