ANYONE WHO STOPS LEARNING IS OLD
“Learn
as if you were to die tomorrow;
learn
as if you were to live forever.”
Mahatma
Gandhi
An
hour ago, I was talking to my younger brother, Rony, over the phone. Rony,
along with his wife, Meena and son Jeswin, have been living in Kuwait for several
years. Just a few weeks ago, Jeswin moved to Malaysia to pursue his degree
course. They have made arrangements in a rented apartment for Jeswin, who,
presently, lives all alone in this apartment. “What about his food?” I asked
Rony, this morning, “Does he know to cook?”
Rony laughed and
asked, “Didn’t we learn to cook, Dattu*? He will learn.”
Times were
different for every generation. My grandparents lived in their own time and
they had to deal with their on struggles. The same for my parents, the same for
us… and, the same will be for our own children, too.
I remember my
parents, particularly my mother, worrying about me when I was moving out of my
protective nest to settle in this big city. She did worry about all my brothers
in the same way. But, as Rony reminded me, a while ago, we all learnt to manage
our lives superbly. Yes, if we could, our children would.
Another thing,
that transpired during our discussion was this: Learning is a continuous
process; it’s not only a man-making process, but, it, also, keeps us eternally
young. Being young means being ever curious to learn new things in life. Henry
Ford had said:
“Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning
is young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young.”
I am sure, my 17-year-old
nephew will not only learn to cook his food, but, he will, also, learn to ‘stay
forever young’…
“In times of
change, the learners inherit the Earth,” Erich Fromm assures us.
GERALD D’CUNHA
Pic.: pixabay
Video: Global Story/Amitabh Bachchan
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