copyright Padre’s Ramblings
What is an education?
Just the things that you should know?
Or is it more than that –
All the things that help you grow?
Knowledge and wisdom
Are the quite the same things
Knowledge is but the fact
Wisdom understands what it brings
What is an education?
What is it really for?
It’s not mere programming
It’s about makes us “more”
Padre
FOWC with Fandango — Education
Padre's Ramblings 
Very well done and spot on!
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That certainly ought to be what education is about!
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Thank you. However, and we might be on the same page, wisdom doesn’t come from a classroom. Each person seeks, and an environment encouraging, provides a foundation of possibilities. While I taught the curriculum and skill sets to high levels, I encouraged them to think for themselves. That requires a good education (in the university but more on my own), curiosity, experiences (tons), and a forward looking nature. So, when the kids/teens think for themselves, I challenge them. And that’s what is required. But a lifetime to acquire real wisdom. Making good, responsible decisions.
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Gravity
As a child, I was one of those kids always asking what happened. You know. “What happened?” “Why did that happen?” And by the time anyone answered, I had to ask another question because something was happening while I asked. Of course, my parents ignored these questions after the first two, for if I wanted to know, I had to pay attention. This, with time and wanting to know, had the effect of really watching and listening: if I wanted to know. And with that came observations of all the problems with the movies. Of course, with time, I learned to just enjoy movies. To suspend criticisms. Enjoy each movie for the entertainment it provided. I’m sure my friends and family were grateful.
But I still recognized the problems in reality, like many, just didn’t say anything, maybe a chuckle, and enjoyed.
So, what is the point a reader might ask. I’ve discovered most people don’t see the problems in reason. For some reason, movie errors often bypasses reason, if they have much. And many will “buy into” what the movies are promoting, sometimes in propaganda, and that becomes a framework of their beliefs. Let anything slip into your consciousness without examination, accepting it because it “sounds” good and others believe, and you’ve forfeited your rights as an individual: a rational, reasonable individual. That doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy movies. I do. And don’t focus on being critical. But it’s there, in the background, while I focus on the entertainment. I can enjoy a movie, even with the errors, taking it for what it is: entertainment with the movie makers’ own reality.
Recently, we watched the movie “Gravity” with Sandra Bullock and that other cool guy. The acting and special effects were fantastic. The story was well-thought-out, editing was amazing, and we thoroughly enjoyed the suspense, drama, humor, and how the movie ended. We cared for the characters. We learned about their lives. We hoped they would solve the problems. We wanted to see how things would work out, and we were happy and sad, for one astronaut returned but the others had not.
There’s just one thing (Others too, but didn’t focus on those, for this is a movie. As I shared, we go with whatever reality the story writers decided upon.). The debris that assaulted them and their space vessel: the debris from an exploded space station or other from a long ways away. Not only that, but that debris passed, orbited the Earth, and returned for a second visit.
Do you know there are people saying that space pollution is a concern? I actually predicted that idea would one day be promoted. How did I know? Because, I became aware that a disinformation campaign had been happening throughout my life, from many sources, for many reasons. But once the idea of the Earth’s destruction because of man became a widely touted and accepted belief, even saying it’s a fact, I knew. With all the problems in the world, why focus on that? But, to some degree, that was a good realization, for then I also realized that while growing up, I may have accepted, without thinking, beliefs by unreliable sources, so I learned to question everything. If I didn’t know, then I didn’t know. If I wanted to know, then it was incumbent upon myself to do the hard work of observation, pondering, research, and more. If I wanted to know. And what I discovered was many of the adults in the world didn’t know, didn’t want to know, didn’t think disinformation was serious enough to warrant, or just didn’t pay attention. **To some degree, this is true, but when movements are all around us, creating disinformation for reasons of “programming” people for ulterior motives that can have long-term effects, that’s when people must be aware. And discuss.
Do you know how much water is in the ocean? An incredible amount. Try calculating the amount of water in the Gulf of Mexico alone, and remember, it rains and water enters from outside. I know this will daunt some people, but I’m pretty sure it’s true. If we took all the oil reserves in the world, all the oil in tankers, containers, and everywhere else, and just dumped it all right in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, it wouldn’t harm our planet. It wouldn’t make an ecological dent. Yes, animals would die. Yes, it would take some time to clean up, and we should at that time do what we can to help. But even if we did nothing, were completely irresponsible, all that oil would clean up on its own, albeit longer. Do you know, in the Gulf of Mexico, when that underwater oil pipe explosion happened, and millions of gallons of oil were pouring into the waters, I said to my friend that will all clean up? Yes, I said. It’s sad that some animals will die, others suffer. We would love things like that to never happen. And we should be responsible to prevent such dangers. But the world will not pass. And guess what. One day, when those “cleanup men” went out again to remove the waters of oil, they couldn’t find any. Why? It all disappeared. In addition to being dispersed, tiny little organisms that had been feasting on oil which is always leaking into the ocean from underneath (millions of gallons leak into the ocean from beneath, naturally, for oil is a naturally occurring substance. Naturally, those little organisms were having breakfast, lunch, and dinner on the oil, cleaning the ocean: as they always have. Imagine having a gallon jug of water and one drop of oil falls in. I suspect that pipe explosion, in comparison to that one drop in a jug of water, was less in ratio. Do the math if you will.
**Here’s something I grew up believing, then started questioning, while others simply accepted as truth. We grew up being told dinosaurs are our oil reserves. The science books we read said pretty much the same. And since all the ancient creatures were long gone, there was a finite amount of oil. But with time, I realized that if oil is once living organisms, and there are always living organisms on the Earth, then oil would be a continually resupplied substance: naturally. And, I suspected, there’s more to oil creation that we know. And there are so many untapped areas of the Earth. So why, I asked, were we told this? And that led to many other observations, thinking, and research, which I encourage others to do for themselves.
Should we try to be as clean as possible? Yes. But we cannot destroy the Earth. It’s incredibly resilient. Here’s one more thing, which I think is worth mentioning here, but I won’t go into much detail (I leave that to the reader to learn.). It was said, over and over, by “experts” and others in positions of power, even the media, that pollution has been so bad that it’s (or very well might be) irreversible. That it’s so bad, we’ve passed the point of no return. The waters will flood the Earth within decades. Our youth’s future is all but over.
Wow! What a statement. If it’s irreversible, then there’s nothing to do. Just sit back, live it up, and go out with a bang. But guess what? Much has been done to reduce pollution, though some other countries continue business as usual. But guess what? Things are much, much better. And when people stayed home, drove less, “they” said within that short time, the air was much cleaner? Perhaps better than ever.
Wow! In such a short time? I thought we were on a runaway visit with the end. But it’s all better now. But my friends and I already knew that, long ago, probably always. The world is just too big and resilient. Driving across states and desserts, flying over the Pacific, sailing on the ocean, then doing the caculations. We knew. Why doesn’t everybody else?
Now, after hearing so much about man destroying the Earth, that led to the comment I made to a friend. They’re going to promote the idea of spatial pollution. And then, they did. This movie is just a Hollywood entertainment program, but with all the disinformation and propaganda out there, young people who haven’t been properly educated and don’t know how to think for themselves will buy into the movie. For what does the entertainment industry do? They put out movies good, bad, and in between. But whatever is becoming popular to believe, whatever people are afraid, that they’ll make movies. Because fear sells tickets. Yes. Whatever people are afraid of, whatever they’re angry about, even if it’s propaganda created, people will watch anything that supports. And their fears override reason. It seems to be human nature. But if we’re calm, living our own lives, we don’t have to be led by fear and anger.
So, what’s the point, someone asks. As earlier shared but is worth repeating, do the calculations. Find for yourself at what altitude most space stations travel. Then, imagine another space station, perhaps on the other side of the Earth, half way, even a quarter of the way around. Then calculate the odds that the debris will ever come anywhere near Sandra Bullock’s space station. We did the calculations. The odds were so small as to be almost nonexistent.
I’ll demonstrate on a smaller scale (Now, I’m just imagining, the scale is different, but I’m challenging people’s thinking.). Imagine a piece of paper covering a football field. At one end zone is a space station the size of a marble. At the other end zone, another marble sized space station. Now, imagine one marble exploding. The debris of metal and other materials will be exploding outward. And since there’s no air in space, or very little where they are, the debris will fly a long way, even around the world. Some debris will go up, down, to the sides: in every direction, which on a three-dimensional scale means thousands of direction. That leaves little material going in any one direction over a very long distance. What do you think of the chance of more than a particle, bolt, or piece of fabric making it from one marble to the other, or even going around the football field to come back again?
That’s why space stations orbit the planet and satellites as well. That’s why we are able to send men to the moon. Because the chances of space debris hitting are so astronomically small as to warrant very little consideration. And what about things flying through the solar system. And we send men to the moon. And we’re planning on Mars. And space debris isn’t even in the conversations.
We greatly enjoyed the movie. But this one aspect, though could happen, most won’t realize just how unlucky the two stars had to be, that in real life, this never would have given any pause. And certainly not by the amount of debris. For the further away the other space station, satellite, or whatever, the more the debris will spread, so by the time it reaches, at most a couple bolts and pieces of metal. As said.
We are living in times of an incredible amount of disinformation. We are living in times of great propaganda. We are living in times where finding a real journalist is like looking for a life form that may have gone extinct. We are living in a time where books give only partial truths, but inject language that leads to many false assumptions. We are living in times when, at the book store, in areas labelled science and current events are filled with so much flawed information, emotions, and rhetoric, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to know what to read.
And then, we are surrounded by people listening to all the disinformation, many having grown up with it, that their reality is not reality. Maybe just a feel-good story. But a feel-good story based upon false information helps no one.
An answer? Yes. Think for yourself. As one man said, question everything. Be unafraid in questioning. Go at your own pace of course. But if you’re wanting to understand, then you might just be surprised to discover how much of what you know, or think you know, is based upon false, inaccurate, or misleading information. But then, as you awaken to realizations, you see more and have those “ah haaa” moments we delight in.
Now, many people don’t want to do the hard work. Why? Because it’s hard. But there’s another reason. Anger. We don’t want to be angry. Life is hard enough. But one doesn’t have to be angry to realize. I must admit, as I learned, I did get angry, realizing the incredible amount of distortion. But then I realized, through reading, watching past shows, learning history, and more, disinformation has always been around. As soon as any person wants something more than what’s right, disinformation. **In other words, there’s really nothing new under the sun. What we’re seeing and hearing today has been done for millennia, just the characters and methods have changes, technology used as well. And the youth are not learning as they ought, but that’s subject for another article.
A friend told a really good story to make a point. At Christmas time, the wife and mother always cut the ends of the ham off, which was the husband’s and grandfather’s favorite part (Mine too.). One day, a relative asked the husband why she always cut the ends of the ham off. Well, they talked, then asked the wife. She explained that’s how they’ve always done it. It was a tradition. So they asked the grandmother. Why, grandma, did you always cut the ends of the ham off every Christmas and Thanksgiving. Oh, she said after thinking about it, the pot was too small.
Why are so many people afraid to question? Why are so many people afraid to challenge “experts”? Why are so many people too lazy to do the hard work, to do the research, to think for themselves, then challenge others’ thinking? Why do we all live in fear, fear of things that are like shadows lacking no real substance? In part, because it’s not cool. If you question too much, you’re seen as “odd.” You’re a trouble maker. But how did we get conditioned to think of those questioning as trouble makers, odd, or too different?
Well, there are those who see things that are not there, live with conspiracy theories about everything. They don’t help with the picture. But I imagine those people, characters in movies as well, are promoted to make anyone asking the serious questions as being “off.” In other words, if you stand up against errors on a grand scale, you’re also facing all those people and organizations promoting false beliefs. But as long as you’re just a tiny organisms, you don’t pose a concern for them. It’s when you’re big, having great influence, perhaps leading something on a grand scale, making positive differences and waking people up, that you pose a great risk to “them.” I’ll leave that to the reader to figure out.
But make no bones. I work. I have hobbies. We go to movies, read books, and whatever. We don’t lose sleep over this stuff. We just learn and share. It takes a whole country, thinking for themselves, understanding, doing their own research. But also being happy, knowing life has challenges and we do the best with what we have.
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