What I Have Learned

Goffstown, NH Class of '63 Proudly Presents:

What I Have Learned

First a message from our President:

When I was in my twenties, The Saturday Evening Post, I think, put out a book called What I Have Learned. They asked twenty or so successful, older people to simply write the things they had learned in life.


The only essay I remember was a man complaining that having to learn to spell was a complete waste of time. Being a poor speller – I regret to say to this day I am a poor speller – I thought this essay made a lot of sense. I always thought if I spelled a word close enough for someone to tell me I had spelled it wrong – well? Well?


Now that most of us write using a software program that spells, corrects (on the fly), hyphenates and even justifies paragraphs, I say again well? Well?


It seems to me that it would be fun, even useful for the class to create a list of what they have learned. I will put this on http://www.mydoomsdaybook.blogspot.com/ You can simply hit the comment button at the end of the post. Be funny, be serious, list your medications, whatever.  A short bio would be nice, too.


Here is my list:


1. Beer is good. I know a lot of people will get in my face about this, but at this late date, no one is going to change my mind. For me, sipping a cold beer is a communion with the vey best things in life. (choke dee – good luck – toast in Thai)


2. Travel no longer broadens the mind. People are people (although admittedly they must be carefully taught) everywhere. I am just as likely to say, “You’ve got to be kidding,” in America nowadays as I am in Thailand or any other country. No country, ancient or modern, has the high ground in the cultural wars anymore.


3. The Internet is no substitute for travel. There is a mystery of place upon seeing the Grand Canyon or the Pyramids in person, which registers, not with the mind, but with the heart.


4. The extended family in the Middle East and Asia, although radically different from America, seems to work as well as the American nuclear family – better in some cases.


5, Like Vegas, everything I learned in kindergarten stayed in kindergarten. Be serious.


6. Money comes from people. I know how banal this sounds but many people think they are getting paid by a corporation in much the same way as kids think meat comes from the grocery store. This basic misunderstanding is the source of a lot of the hubris in the world.

Forrest info

I worked as a teacher (ugh!) in Saudi Arabia for 14 years and now live in Ayutthaya, Thailand.  I write poetry (see: http://www.forrestgeenwood.blogspot.com/) and I am currently working on another novella.