Speeches

Learning for Life – Life Long Learning

May 9, 2008

I was at an Aboriginal tourism conference a few years ago and three of us ladies got together and were chatting about our love of books.  I told of living over the small public library in town and I could pad down the hallway, down the stairs in my slippers and pick out books at will. I felt I had my own private library.

Another told of being driven to the local library and getting her own library card, treasuring and the responsibility of having this card. The last story, of how her mother would take her to the post office to pick up a small brown wrapped parcel with her name on it.  Her mother, who could not read, had someone fill in a subscription to have her daughter receive this wonderful gift of words that she could not understand. Sandra won the story telling hands down, we had tears in our eyes.

When I was small, I read everything – even the corn flakes box.  I love words, the way they describe things, the way they make you feel, the way the characters come alive, how they move and puzzle you as you lose your self in the plot.

I had phases for different types of books – of course, Anne of Green Gables, Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys, then on to Zane Grey westerns. After that I had a period of science fiction only, then a brief period in my early teens for Harlequin romances, on to spy novels and now I love the escapism of well written "whodunnits."

I also subscribe to many magazines such as Time, MacLean and Reader’s Digest. These give me a fountain of information of current trends and different opinions of what is happening in the world.
Scrabble anyone - again – more words.

It is a challenge to nurture the love of reading, as our society changes and our fast paced information infused world is given in snippets.  Technology and games have taken over – children are accustomed to being entertained. When I began grade one, Dick and Jane and phonetics, flash cards, memory work, spelling bees then later, obscure poetry, geography and social studies were the norm. I sometimes wondered what knowing that corn was the main crop in Iowa would mean to me or that Lenin was really an important character in the scheme of things.
 
But it does teach one to transfer and use information and it is amazing how throughout ones life, these facts appear from your memory file and you know ‘stuff’ and a lot of important ‘stuff’.

Some of the old ways of learning were not all bad. I sometimes read wise words or wise quotes and feel inadequate in expressing what I want to say. I want to say equally wise words or quotes or at the very least, create a message to invoke thought and discussion.

My message: we must be careful we don’t make change just to make change. Think, ponder, deliberate, examine, argue, discuss and I hope each of you come away with a sense of contributing to this subject of learning for life.
 
Learning and eventually teaching what you learn, both good and bad, is how we pass knowledge and skills from generation to generation. I want you to know that I am still a student, I am constantly learning, each day is filled with wonder and new stories are created just by my having lived it. 

This gathering and this group will now be a part of my learning experience and stories. I leave you with a profound quote – from Dr. Suess:

Think left and think right and think low and think high. Oh, the thinks you can think up if only you try.