The Sentinel Experience and Knowledge July 17, 2020

      This was the garden off the veranda at the old Raffles Hotel in Singapore as I remember it in 1972. It had not changed much since world war 2. It is much different now.

      There is no denying that we can learn a lot from school texts and books. I have read and studied countless school books and technical manuals in my life, 90% of which I no longer remember either from no longer using the things learned, or perhaps (I hate to say this) memory lapse. Either way, I have forgotten so much in all my years.
      My experiences are totally different. I remember 90% of them because they happened to me personally. I was an eight-year old when I was mugged by 3 teens outside a movie house. I was picked on and beaten on by a bully in the school yard across the street from my home. I was always the last one picked for sports games in the same school yard. All unpleasant memories, but 67 years later I remember them, not that it made or makes any difference now. All through my school years my mother always told me how smart I was. I believed her, because she was my mother. It was a big shock when I enlisted in the navy and found out I wasn't as smart as mom told me I was. I remember my wedding day and night 56 years, 7 months ago. I remember every job I ever had, both the good and the bad of all of them. Experiences lead to knowledge we never forget.
      That leads me to my next category today, wisdom. I do not mean brilliance as in Einstein or so many scientists, physicists, research doctors and so on ad infinitum. To me wisdom is learning and knowing oneself. Most people who know us know us better than we know ourselves as is true in my case. Now I am just beginning to know myself and I still have a lot to learn. It's only taken 75 years, but I am finally getting around to it at the moment.
      It's a scary place inside your own brain, Joyce knows what's in my brain and she tells me it's a scary place. I know that to be true since I first began to look in there myself. I believe once we know ourselves we can begin to make us better. If I'm wrong on that, it still wouldn't hurt to know just what and who I really am.