I’m reading a book called “The Well Educated Mind: A Guide
to the Classical Education You Never Had” by Susan Wise Bauer. It’s a great resource for those of us who
have been away from formal education for, shall I say, a spell? At any rate I haven’t gotten very far but I
am mulling over the first bits where she states (and I paraphrase), there are
three foundation blocks to education:
first get the facts, second analyze them, then third form an opinion. This morning I realized that she was
absolutely correct when she said that the vast majority of us jump to step
three immediately and for proof she referred us to any talk show on the
air. She’s on point for sure!!
The topic this morning was the take over of a government
facility in Oregon. Most facts were
obtained through the lurid headlines which stated that a heavily armed miltia
has stormed the facility and vow to remain under any and all
circumstances. Opinions were formed and
voiced and no facts were scrutinized.
I had to turn off the radio because, I’m afraid that all of
the fools calling in with little or no information rang too true to home for
me. I have thousands of opinions, some
are backed by solid facts but too many are just opinions and a result of
skimming the surface of the various stories thrown out there. Lesson learned, well, for the moment. Old habits are hard to break but --- it can
be done.
