Listen to Learn Wisdom

This morning, I read some good advice from a book on Stoicism. Apparently, a great stoic philosopher, Seneca, frequently quoted another philosopher, Epicurus. This may seem unusual because Epicurus had a very different philosophy from Seneca's (supposedly. I don't know much about Epicurus. That's just what the nook said). What's striking about this situation is that Seneca was able to gain knowledge and wisdom from a wide variety of sources, even some with whom he disagreed.

This weekend, the church will hold a General Conference, broadcasting messages from church leaders out to all the world. Most of the world will ignore those messages, but they'll be missing out on the wisdom that they could learn from listening to the church leaders, just as we miss out on wisdom when we choose not to listen to others. We all have something we can learn from everyone, even those of other faiths, and everyone, even those of other faiths, could stand to learn something from us.

So, let's listen and see what wisdom we can learn.

"Other Great Tutors"

I just helped a handful of students, one of whom thinks very highly of me. According to that student, I'm one of the best writing tutors in the world. Naturally, I disagree. Given the number of writing tutors in the world, it's implausible that I'm one of the best of them. But more than that, I tend to be rather self-conscious about my abilities. I sometimes say that I'm being humble, but it's more like having self-doubts. I don't really see myself as a great tutor. Or, at least, I didn't.

Perhaps that student's over-estimation of me has rubbed off on me, or maybe I'm finally catching on to the idea that my years of tutoring experience must have increased my skill by now, but I'm finally starting to see myself as a competent, good tutor, perhaps even a great one. When talking about the other tutors at the Writing Center, I said that we have "other great tutors" at the Writing Center, implying a belief that I'm a great tutor as well.

I don't know if I'd go that far, either because of lingering self-doubts or because of trying to avoid the vice of pride, but I think I can confidently say that I am at least a good tutor. I love to help my students. I'm usually able to analyze assignments quickly and give students guidance and advice that will be helpful to them. It's not bloated boasting to say that I have the skills necessary to help my students improve their writing, like a good tutor should. I am a good tutor.

Granted, to say that I am a great tutor may be more boastful than accurate. But I'm not sure whether I'm saying that because I'm humble, or because I'm self-conscious, or because I'm wary of succumbing to pride. It's good to be humble and avoid pride, but it's also good to have confidence and to give accurate assessments, even of oneself, even when those assessments are positive and seem boastful.

I don't want to give anyone the impression that I'm better than I actually am, but I do want to have the confidence and honesty to admit that I am a good tutor, perhaps even a great one.

Mini Miracles

This morning, I couldn't find one of my favorite shirts, a red T-shirt with the silhouette of Toothless, the dragon from How to Train Your Dragon, on it. It wasn't in the drawer where I keep my T-shirts, and I hadn't worn it recently, so I knew it wasn't in my laundry bag. I thought it could have been left in one of the laundry machines and subsequently mixed up with someone else's laundry. But I also had to consider the possibility that I had thrown it away.

The shirt had been fraying for months, beginning to come apart in a way that I wouldn't be able to stitch back together. I knew I couldn't keep wearing it much longer. I suppose I could have made something else out of the fabric - a throw pillow, perhaps, but I knew it'd be ages before I made the time for a project like that, and in the meantime, it would just be clutter, taking up space in a drawer. I had to consider the possibility that, at some point, I might have decided to throw it away.

Thankfully, I hadn't. I found it laying between the wall and the washing machine, apparently having fallen next to the machine rather than into it. When I found it, I thanked God that I had, and that I hadn't thrown it away.

Yet, it wasn't a traditional miracle that had led me to finding my T-shirt. It wasn't miraculously spared from some unfortunate fate. I didn't hear any voices or feel any feelings guiding me to the place where my T-shirt was. I had just lost it, looked for it, and found it. That wasn't a miracle.

And yet, it was. It's a miracle that I'm blessed to own that shirt. I'm blessed with the love of the family members who made it for me. I'm blessed with the eyes that allowed me to find it. And I'm blessed to have had the wisdom to not throw it away (wisdom born, unfortunately, from someone else's less-miraculous experience with the loss of a cherished item).

I'm grateful for all the mini miracles that built up to the mini miracle of having found my shirt again, and I'm grateful that we are all blessed with countless such miracles. We all have more blessings than we realize, especially since so many of those blessings are small enough and constant enough to slip beneath our notice or be taken for granted. Yet, when we consider all the many mini blessings in our lives, we can become overwhelmed by the sheer number of them. In light of that, then, it's only natural to feel and express gratitude for the many miracles in our lives, no matter how miniature they may seem.

Conservatism and Progress

Today, while studying for my Political Ideologies class, I learned about conservatism. According to our textbook, the main idea of conservatism is preservation. Conservatives want to preserve what works and keep all the best qualities of society as it is now. Generally, conservatives resist change because changes can have unexpected downsides and dire consequences. Personally, I see the wisdom in conservatism. It took quite a bit of time, work, and luck to make the progress we've made so far. It'd be foolish to risk all that progress by taking the chance that drastic changes can help us improve society faster. It's often wise to be cautious and consider the possible outcomes of our actions.

Progress is possible, and we should try to make progress, but not at the risk of losing the progress we've already made.

What I Learned From a Documentary I Never Watched

This afternoon, I helped a student whose class had just seen a documentary about hospice care and the thoughts and feelings of everyone involved. Even without having seen the documentary, seeing what this class had written was sobering, and it cleared up a few things for me.

I learned that when death come for me, I want to see it coming. Sure, we all know that we're going to die someday, but knowing that I'm mortal is very different approximately how little time I have left. Sure, it's frightening to know that death is imminent, but I'd rather have some time to brace for it rather than being caught be surprise.

I also learned that, however little time I have left, I'd be willing to fight for more, both to help cushion the blow to my friends and family and to get the chance to say goodbye to them. Granted, there is, of course, the afterlife, but still, the separation, however temporal, will still be painful. Plus, I wouldn't mind having a chance to help put my affairs in order, in order to not leave so much of a mess for my family to clean up.

Death is tough. I'm not looking forward to it, and I hope that it's still many, many years away. But still, this documentary got me thinking, and it's probably worth thinking about it. How would we face death? Would we rather see it coming, or would we rather it be a surprise? How hard would we fight to hold on to life, despite knowing what we know about what'll happen with us when we pass on? And if we knew we were going to die, as we all eventually will, how would we want to spend however much or little time we have left?

These are important questions to ponder, and while I hope we won't need they answers to these questions any time soon, they're still good to think about in preparation for the sadly inevitable.

Luck and Work

This evening, we spent some quality time with our family, including some family members we don't see very often. We each helped prepare the food we ate. We each helped watch the kids and play with them. Basically, everyone contributed to everyone else's enjoyment of the evening, and as far as I know, everyone had a good time.

I'd say that we're lucky to have a family that's willing to come together and support each other, but it's not really luck, is it? Mom raised us to be decent, helpful people, and we all put in the effort to keep the family together. It's not just "lucky" that we're all willing to work together, it's us all collectively and individually deciding to put in the work. Sure, any one of us could be said to be lucky to have been born into such a family, but collectively, luck has nothing to do with it. We all choose to use our agency to put in the work to help the family.

I wonder how many other areas of life work the same way. We think some people are lucky if they're wealthy, but some people worked hard for that wealth. We consider a person lucky if they're healthy, and they certainly are, since unfortunate medical events can happen to anyone, but choosing to try to live healthily can help us avoid some medical issues and quickly overcome others. And of course, I'm lucky to have the opportunity to get an education, but I also chose to seek and avail myself of that opportunity, and I am choosing to apply myself in my classes instead of just sitting through them. My luck made it possible, but my diligence is making it happen.

Naturally, luck can still be a huge factor in people's lives, but it's not the only factor, and there are times when good or bad luck can be enhanced or overcome through diligence or the lack thereof. Good luck can be capitalized through our efforts or wasted through our laziness, and bad luck can be overcome through our diligence or exacerbated through our slothfulness. Luck can have an influence on us, but our choices can minimize or maximize that influence for bad or for good.

So, even setting aside the blessings granted to the righteous and the curses applied to the wicked, it makes sense not to chalk everything up to luck. Our decisions also affect our outcomes and the courses of our lives. So, yes, I was lucky to have been born into a supportive family, but it's supportive because we choose to put in the work necessary to support each other.

"Good Enough"

Sometimes, things are, or have to be, "good enough." When we have a paper due, we'll try to make it as good as we can, but when it's due, we have to submit it, whatever condition it's in. I feel similarly with my blog posts. I can try to do as well as I can, but at a certain point, I have to decide that it's "good enough."

I think I worry too much about perfectionism. When I make a mistake, or when I do something less well than I think I theoretically could have, I tend to worry about it more than is actually helpful. Sometimes, I just need to relax, remember that it's okay to not be perfect, and remind myself that I am good enough.

Nobody's perfect. And of course, we all can and should try to do better. But we should also try not to burn ourselves out. Trying too hard to be perfect just adds unnecessary stress to our lives. Most often, it's better to just try to do well, don't worry that it's not perfect, and be satisfied that it was "good enough."