Notice Words of Wisdom

The following crosses my mind, what will I feel about this blog in the future? Will I be embarrassed? Proud? Both and laugh it off? I don’t know. For this blog, I chose not focus too much on my creative writing or academic. Instead, I decided to write about the things that I’m learning at school, people and life in general because I feel these influence my writing—whether they’re positive or negative aspects of my life. When I am done writing my first book (praying to God I finish it + fingers crossed haha), I wonder how many of those thoughts will reflect in my work? We’ll have to see.

Recently, a relative of mine stated that he will not listen to anyone’s advice. He feels that if he doesn’t experience anything on his own or “sees” it for himself, then he will not believe the experience of the other person; therefore, he will not consider anyone’s words but his own. “What a Thomas!” I thought. Obviously, we all make mistakes. Experiences do teach us what we did right or wrong. However, if someone can give you their “expert” opinion about any given subject, then why not listen? To me, his response was so tragic. I believe that everyone has something to teach us, arguably. Often we take for granted those who we think are “lesser” than us—sometimes indirectly or directly—another tragedy.

For instance, one of my mom’s friends cleans houses on a daily basis. She told me about the best products that will do a better job for mirrors, television screens, floors, counters so on and so forth in comparison to other products. I was astonished at how practical her suggestions were because they did make a difference. For example, Windex doesn’t work as great as the product Glass. As insane as this sounds, I thought of cleaning as its own form of art. Have you walked around the mall and taken a look at how clean certain places are? It takes effort, the right product, and the right movement to leave surfaces intact. That and you don’t want to destroy your cabinets if they happen to be cherry wood.

Fine, I’ll admit it—it has happened to me, and I wish I would have asked before ruining a piece of furniture–or read instructions, which I hate to do–not wise, I know. But what did I learn? I learned that I better heed the words of my mother’s friend so that I did not destroy something else. Now, I still endured the experience of the destruction of a piece of furniture. Nonetheless, there are too many materials out there in the world or in my house that I can still annihilate due imprudence or ignorance. Why not ask an expert about it? And that’s exactly my point. Even those who we assume cannot offer us a piece of their knowledge have something to teach us.

Children can teach us, teenagers, and yes, I said it, teens can teach us, and old people, especially those with more years of experience. We expect to learn from those who we take in high esteem. And that’s great! Because I like learning from those guys or gals too. However, how much broader can we make our minds if we learn from those who we expect not to learn from? It’s almost a whole different world.

If I don’t have to hit my head against a wall to learn a lesson (metaphorically of course; Ouch!), then I will be more than glad to ask questions and learn from an expert. Some experts charge a lot of money for their advice. So, if someone is gracious enough to willingly guide me and be my mentor, by all means, I will heed their words. Admittedly, at times, I’ve rejected advice—then hours, days, weeks, months, or years later I thought, “Oh, that’s what they meant. Darn it!” And this is okay too, it happens. We might not always agree with the experts, but it’s good to listen, consider, and learn.