Something about Education and Experience

I did not want to write this, I really didn’t.

This was the first time that I’ve been blatantly uninspired and unmotivated for writing a blog in a very long time. I drafted several different ideas, many which were terribly corrupt of insignificance and possessing nothing but the ramblings of an unaccomplished against the accomplished. Excellent Sheep gave me a lot to talk to but not much to write about, because lets be honest, everything’s already been put in paper.

I tried to give it a different take, maybe contradict something in the book. Instead, I wrote a bunch of repetitive and hypocritical ramblings about the SAT along with a short story as entertaining as a ToK essay. It was essentially about a valedictorian who basically became the Wolf of Wall Street of the medical industry and how he corrupted everyone around him, somehow being an Excellent Sheep. Yes, this is the kind of crap I now come up with.

So, for this one I’ve decided to go back to the basics: I’m gonna talk about myself and the little things that go along behind the lines.

I had a remarkable experience last Thursday. A friend’s boyfriend (he’s a writer) was doing a book signing for his debut novel at the Feria del Libro. I went there, hanged out at their booth, and went with them to a café in Miraflores.

After almost a month of repetitive SAT Prep and sobering up on films, it was simply wonderful to see them, such natural people in such a heartfelt relationship. Yeah, I was the third wheel, but I didn’t mind, especially because I’ve become really good friends with both of them. We talked about so many things about life, but most importantly is where we did. I’ve come to realize how much money you save by walking or taking the public transportation; the “micro” if you will. There is so much of Lima that I’ve been missing out from, and this is an experience that I need to exploit from before I leave next year.

Today, Saturday, I was just going home from my SAT classes (taking one of the buses) when a guy with a guitar got on the bus. He pitched his need for money and then began to play. Interesting enough, he mentioned how he was doing it because it’s what he truly loves, and even though the guitar was a bit off tune, his singing and playing we’re great. I gave him all the change I had in me, he had earned it. The way he sang reminded me how amazing it is to be an artist and the genuie ability to change people’s moods with such ease.

What this makes me realise is that there is plenty to learn, there is actually so much to learn that isn’t on text books that it might actually take away some relevancy from them. You cannot teach someone how to talk to others or how to make your way around the city, but you can mentor them and help them do so. Even so, a huge part behind this way of learning is the simple interpretation of what is going on around you, which is something that is 100% relative. You cannot control everything, you simply can’t. And even the things you can control aren’t always at most. This comes particularly through the way humans interact with each other; natural instinct always wins, even if it’s at a more formal scenario. People have an incentive to be better than other people, and that’s why no one can trust each other. What an artist does is show that everyone shares a similar experience of life and tell us a bit of his or her experience in hopes that it will relate to ours. That’s why artists are either very happy or very depressed: they understand the way people think in a different and more profound way, a way which might reveal a specific truth about society that no one else wants to know.

What is your purpose in life?

This question was asked to me by a fellow innovator when I was in the middle of working on the ramblings I talked about at the beginning of the blog. I had realized that I didn’t really have one, but after a lot of thought I discovered what my purpose was:

My purpose in life is to mark a generation by telling, through art and media, the stories that we all have in common that no one wants to mention.

This was not an easy question to answer, but it was a simple one to find out once you understand what is it that you enjoy doing so much. I love to tell stories, especially ones regarding themes that are under-looked and ignored by everyone else. These simple experiences in life are smaller part of what most people experience in their day to day, but they’re some of the most important ones, yet they’re blatantly ignored by most people seeking for education. This is what William Deresiewicz refered to “great books”, only that they’re not always books. These “great books” are “great stories”, such things are found everywhere, and you don’t even have to look hard to find them, you just have to listen to what others are saying.

We’re always told about the dangers of talking to a stranger, yet most of us are unaware of who we really are as well as how that person you’re next to might have a very similar experience to yourself. This is something that most people haven’t learned, and probably will never learn. Experience is learning, it is the finest form of doing so.

These are not all the simplicities I’ve experienced; these are simply the ones I’m gonna share today.