Reading and Shovelling...

I spent yesterday in Kingston, having my VW worked on. It was supposed to be a quick 2 hour in and out job, but due to trucking problems ended up taking all day. Luckily Barnes and Noble is about a block away from the garage. I hung out there for 5 hours.

I will never be ungrateful for my ability to read. The cliche' about opening doors to new worlds will never be untrue. It is because of reading that I know anything at all. It is because of reading that I can go back to school and spend a few hours every day perusing a textbook, and learning what is inside of it. I truly feel sad when I hear about people who cannot read. What kind of life must they lead, with nothing but television to entertain them? Am I being presumtuous, thinking that their lives are empty without books? I also feel sad when it becomes apparent that some people are afraid to read for fear of being thought of as ignorant or uneducated. For me this kind of shame prevents people from asking for help.

I have met people who believe that reading is OK, but the knowledge one gleans from the page is not. Usually this person is some kind of religious fanatic who believes in the literal message in the Bible (written by greedy men to further their hold on an ignorant serfdom, thereby increasing their real estate holdings...) and prefers the womenfolk to be barefoot and pregnant. People like this do exist. I met a lot when I was in jail. They didn't like me at all.

I was educated.

Too much education is a bad thing, because it doesn't help you to shovel crap in the barn, or does it...their opinion, not mine.

I see education as a way to move on from shovelling crap, to say, maybe baling hay, or fixing the tractor, or learning how banks work so you can write your name, speak to the banker in a proper tone, get that bank loan, and by your own farm. When that happens you can hire someone else to shovel crap.

But first you have to teach them how to do it. Oh, Socrates, what a method you have given us:


Farmer: Come here, fella. This is a shovel.

Fella: What's it for?

Farmer: Lots of things, but today it's for shovelling crap out of the barn.

Fella: Oh. I don't know how to do that.

Farmer: Don't worry, fella, I used to do it a lot. I'll show you how. It's easy.

Fella: OK. But what about the other things I can do with it?

Farmer: Tomorrow we'll discuss your future. Today, you shovel crap.

Fella: OK.

The End


There can never be such a thing as too much knowledge.

I'm reading Tom Robbins' latest novel which came out in 2003. I love his writing style. He has a truly slippery tongue, and for some reason can write about sex better than anyone I've ever read. Very smart guy. Lots of philosophy, theology, geo-politics, etc...and sex. My kind of read.



Johnnyboy