When I hear the word ‘education’, I envision a classroom with metal desks with a lid that flips up and a hard wooden chair. In fact, it often reminds me of this poem I read in my teens that moved me to tears, perhaps because I felt like one of those kids who was ‘different’:
On Education
He always wanted to explain things. But no one cared.
So, he drew.
Sometimes he would draw, and it wasn’t anything.
He wanted to carve it into stone or write it in the sky, and it would only be
him and the sky and the things inside him that needed saying.
It was after that he drew the picture. It was a beautiful picture.
He kept it under his pillow and would let no one see it.
He would look at it every night and think about it. When it was dark,
and his eyes were close, he could still see it.
When he started school, he brought it with him; not to show anyone,
just to have to along like a friend.
It was funny about school. He sat at a square brown desk, like all the
other square brown desks.
He thought it would be a red one.
And his room was a square, brown room, like all the other rooms.
He hated to hold the pencil and chalk, his arms stiff, his feet flat on the floor, stiff, the teacher watching and watching.
The teacher came and spoke to him. She told him to wear a tie like all the other boys.
He said he didn’t like them. She said it didn’t matter.
He drew all yellow. It was the way he felt about the morning, and it was beautiful.
The teacher came and smiled at him. “What’s this?”, she said, “Why don’t you draw something like the other boys are drawing, isn’t that beautiful?”
After that, his mother bought him a tie, and he always drew airplanes and rocket ships, like everyone else.
And he threw the old picture away.
And when he lay alone, looking at the sky, it was big and blue and all of everything, but he wasn’t anymore. He was square inside and brown, and his hands were stiff.
The things inside that needed saying didn’t need it anymore.
It had stopped pushing.
It was crushed.
Stiff.
Like everything else.
What I’ve learned since those early years is:
Education is simply gathering knowledge and it can be whatever you want or need it to be.
The more you learn, about yourself and the world, the more pathways open before you.
You are unique, there is no one else like you in the whole world – embrace that!
When we allow ourselves to succumb to expectations that don’t support the exceptional individuals we are at our core, we become lost, disconnected from the very essence that is our unique imprint upon this world. The world needs your uniqueness, it needs you and the special gifts you’ve brought with you into this lifetime. So, embrace all the learning that comes your way. Educate yourself through the resources and means that most serve you and your growth. And, if you’re sitting in a classroom or anywhere being educated and something or someone doesn’t resonate with you, simply shift your focus to the things that inspire you. Soak in all the learning the speaks to who you are at your core.
Love & Spirit, Kimble
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