desire to learn for
pleasure’s of learning such a
joy to experience
Adapted from the line, “Gunnar Danielsson, secretary general of Folkuniversitetet, said: “The desire to learn for pleasure’s sake, or for the sake of learning as such, is a joy to experience in a society which is increasingly obsessed with learning and education as preparation for work.” as it appears in the article, ‘Keeps your mind alert’: older Swedes reap the benefits of learning for pleasure by the Nordic correspondent for the Guardian, Miranda Bryant.
Back in the day when I was in college this three older ladies sat next to me in the class, History of the High Renaissance in Tuscany.
There were assigned seats but we always found each and sat in a group and chatted before class.
They were lifelong residents of Ann Arbor and the University offered locals the chance to ‘audit’ class (if there was room) for the fee of $25.
The ladies said they had been ‘going to school’ for years and loved learning new things.
That has stayed with me and I have always had this need to know and a curiosity about everything.
For example, we moved to the coastal low country of South Carolina.
Maybe I was aware of things like salt marshes and tides but they had never entered my life before.
Now my tablets are full of books and articles on the salt marshes.
I follow and try to understand tides and tidal information which is something good to know when you live in a county that at high tide, is 50% underwater.
And I wholeheartedly endorses that line that states, “The desire to learn for pleasure’s sake, or for the sake of learning as such, is a joy to experience.”
Back in college, my major was US History and I read for most of my out of class classwork.
My roommates were engineers and nightly crouched over paper and textbooks and calculators.
They would look at me and ask was I reading for class or for fun.
I was answer, “What’s the difference?”
No Haiku For You 