By various and sundry means, we all gather some smidge of knowledge that is important to us. We may lose the structured sequential building of study that comes with a scope and sequence, yet each squirrel or rabbit that crosses our path adds to a fact bank or even an attraction that changes our whole life. We’d like to admire or credit Goggle with instant gratification; however the sources are as varied as the topics chased.
The space may not have qualified as a hall. It was a small square of four walls with a door from one bedroom, another to the bath, number three led to the sleeping porch, and the last went into the dining rooms. One wall had enough space for a four tiered bookshelf and the extra refrigerator new enough not to freeze up. The book shelf held the A – Z volumes of an old set of The World Book. No matter that it was maybe a 1930’s set. From it I learned about people and places and how to etch tin trays with acid. I didn’t even have to know what I was looking for. Something attractive subject was waiting on the next page. A companion to this set was a gathering of tattered National Geographic magazines. The groundwork for my love of Greek and Roman history came from colored pictures of Pompey and drawings of the Minoan Labyrinth of Crete and how to trail a cord to find a way out.
Libraries used to be more of a vastness of possibilities. I could ride my bike across town to the local one in Hammond. The probability existed of my choosing a subject, standing in front of a card catalog, and running my fingers through sequence of letters to uncover a topic I didn’t know existed. Then I could wander between shelves checking numbers until there was book waiting for me. I didn’t have to know exactly what I needed in order to find it. Instead of starting with a desired website, I could wander stacks in a back corner, pull out a catch my eye cover, peruse a bit, and slip it back in place.
None of the previous two discount the enlightments that phones and internet can add. Son and I left the Baptist church after a previously mentioned trip to Lafayette. Across the street on an oak filled lot about the size to hold two suburban houses was a cemetery. Under a towering oak was a family sepulcher replete with standing angel and a woman holding a banner saying Mother and Father. In the back corner, we found a marker that opened up an instant phone search to reveal that this was a Jewish cemetery given in the 1800’s for the 63 Jews in Lafayette. I like knowing that this peaceful, well-tended place still exists in a French Catholic town.
Think through your own tidbits of the week. Sometimes down the hole leads to warrens. A friend and I have spent a month chasing fraught which may be more favored in England while rife gives the same feeling of abundance for us across the Atlantic. Reading a description under a picture in a museum opens a genre that needs to be explored. I’m visiting a raptor center this weekend. Eagles and owls I know. Kites for now are a children’s entertainment. Each tidbit enriches me and gives me some thing to share. Excuse me, there goes a rabbit.
He who gets wisdom loves his own soul, He who keeps understanding will find good.
Proverbs 19:8
Let Me Tell Ya 