Tuesday, April 07, 2009

These Three Pounds

This weekend at the flea market I bought some old crochet hooks. This might prompt the logical question of "am I crocheting." The answer would be, "no." I know how to crochet, and on occasion I feel the urge, but it generally passes quickly - long before I've even gone in search of yarn.

But this made me think about all the things we learn to do in our lives. It's quite astonishing, really. Each of us has developed hundreds, maybe thousands, of skills that we think nothing about. Dare I say, we take them for granted.

Think about all we learn to do in just the first couple of years. We go from helpless to walking in just about 12 months, and to talking in another 12. Those are not small accomplishments by any means.

In just a few more short years we can read and write, and somewhere along the way critical thinking enters the picture. We learn to develop relationships with others and start to find our way in the world.

Amazing all the things these three pounds of gray matter can do.

Take just a minute and think about all the things you know how to do. Some things we learn through osmosis - like language, and some we learn through diligent effort.

I was surprised at the disparate things on my list. I can crochet and I can shoot a gun for example. I don't know that I do either particularly well, although I'm guessing I may be better with a gun than a crochet hook. Fortunately, my daily life doesn't call for either of those skills much.
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