Learn Something New

There’s something ridiculous about the phrase “nothing new under the sun.”

For years I’ve enjoyed Garrison Keillor’s The Writer’s Almanac. It makes it so easy to learn something new. But more than that – it presents new arenas for learning. Knowing that opportunities to learn are ever increasing is good support for the idea that the universe is expanding.

Just this morning I learned that today is the autumnal equinox and on this date Lincoln delivered the Emancipation Proclamation to his cabinet.

The word “equinox” caught my attention. I just like the sound of it.

Not only are there new things to learn, but there are things to “un-learn.” Specifically, all the things I know that are wrong. Surely a long list.

If there is anything to support the idea of living with someone it’s how it leverages the opportunity of learning. Among the reasons I can think of for living with you, this is near the top.

Hearing a new poem is a peculiar type of learning something new. There’s no chance that I’d be able to recite it from memory. Yet the experience of hearing it can be entertaining and enriching.

Maybe the idea of learning something new everyday should be expanded to experience something new every day.