Be a Better Person than Yesterday

How has been lifelong learning molded me into who I am today and who I will be tomorrow? Today I am a better person because of what I have learned yesterday and with this growth, I will be a better person tomorrow. Day to day living is also day to day learning, everything I do and to everyone I interact with I have an opportunity to be enlightened in my wisdom. I believe that learning starts at the moment of conception when the sperm and egg meet dynamics begins and so does the learning. During development, I was programmed from the DNA that my parents had contributed and from their parents and from theirs and so on.

Some of the earliest learning experiences that I can faintly remember would be potty training. The countless hours that my parents had invested in me had pain off so that I am able to potty in a toilet, this is important so that I can be like that of my friends. Having Family that interacts on a daily to a weekly basis gave me insight on the culture that my parents came from, lessons on cooking that great Italian spaghetti to growing vegetables and fruits down on the farm. Growing up in Catholic schools set the standard for my values and morals, being polite and addressing an adult in the appropriate manner. Other lessons like shoe tying and how to use your handkerchief to counting and knowing the alphabet. School gave me the basic skills needed to interact in the world around me and to help me better learn the lessons that the schools do not teach. Having teachers that truly loved what they were doing and sometimes not ever knowing the results of how students moved on and what success may have come from their work.

Grade school and high school furthered my basic skills and started to give me some insight to what I might do as a grown up, along with the skills on continued learning habits. Having an English teacher that saw my hidden talents in poetry used that as a tool to sharpen my skills in writing and grammar and to the gym teacher who pushed me to be the true athlete that I could be. My music teacher who wanted the best for me when it came to singing and never gave up and made the extra time after school to help make improvements to my awesome vocals. The principle that wanted so much to punch me because at times I would push his buttons gave me insight on how to deal with kids like me. My coaches made me strong and brave, quick thinking and agile. Having friends that had some of the same morals and values as me helped in keeping me out of trouble or going in the wrong direction.

Going to church and having faith has kept me humble at times when I thought too much of myself. Helping those that were less fortunate than myself get clothes and food, and to help the elderly people that needed yard work done or heavy things moved in the house. Faith gives me the strength in troubled times or when things are going in a direction that I am not sure of. Taking classes to a Christian councilor for married couples had helped in being compassionate for others and teaches how to be a loving person.

Living in a small town has its perks; we have the ability to know a large majority of the people that live in the community. I had been raised not only by my parents and family but by the neighbors and those that lived in the community. Active as I was in school sports and church events many people knew me, so I had lots of people looking out for me. Growing up in this small town I had become a key figure among the younger kids, they looked up to me and knew that they would be safe around me. One event that had recently come to light is when a young woman had posted on a popular website on how I would take kids ice skating in the winter and when one of the little children had fallen and hurt her head badly I had carried her all the way home. This event had brought to my attention that so many of these life events had been training me for the job that I have today, and what I plan on doing for the rest of my life.

I have also spent four years in the Air National Guard and learned some great organizing skills and mechanical and electrical troubleshooting skills. Training in the military gives you the leadership skills needed to teach and train those that want to learn along with tools to help anyone that needs help. I went into the law enforcement field after time in the guard and acquired skills for dealing with people in difficult situations and how to deal with people when they are at their worst and how to maintain order in chaotic situations. I had training in keeping your temperament intact when everything around you is in complete disorder.

Having decided to go back to school to get more education to further myself in my career in working with teens and children with autism has been a learning experience in itself. Lifelong learning is and will always be a major part of my life. We can learn from each other in a school setting or in real life experiences if we pay close attention to the world around us. Everything we do and everyone we come in contact with can teach us something about ourselves and something about the world. In the past ten years, I had really taken a closer look at myself to really get to know who I am, and what it is I am to do to cause a change in the world.

I have found my gift and with all the events that have happened to me taught me and molded me into the person who I am today. Tomorrow I will be a different person only by opening up my mind and learn everything that there is to learn for a better tomorrow. Taking the opportunity of online learning has given me a better outlook of who I am and the confidence that I need to continue on in getting a master degree in psychology. I had to drop the attitude I once carried about school and the classes that I have to take even though I don’t see the need for it now. All these things help in making lifelong learned a vital part of my life, which in turn I hope to make it a vital part of someone else’s life.