Once Upon a Time …

Remember those stories from days gone by that started out with those great words? It seems like we lose track of those words after a certain amount of time that goes by in our own lives. When we wanted to hear a story, we'd ask our Mom or someone else who knew how to read so we could keep hearing those stories over and over. Then as we got older and learned to read ourselves, we then left those words behind and went on new adventures.

But then in some cases, reality set in. Not all of us learned how to read or were taught the importance of reading and writing. Whose fault is this? Wow, isn't that a prophetic question ... does someone really need to be blamed for that? According to certain people in society, SOMEONE must be blamed for this lack of knowledge. But success comes in different forms. Let me try and explain.

I'm sure we all know someone who can barely write their name and who has a real tough time reading. But sometimes these same people are some of the smartest people we know. Sure, they not only have great common sense, but they hold high positions in certain professional fields, and they have learned to survive and prosper in spite of their shortcomings. Does this make them any less "educated"?

Education is key to almost all phases of improvement in today's workplace. From grade school to many years of college, degrees are there for everyone. Hard work, discipline and dedication are needed to achieve these goals. But some of us just don't seem to, "have it". To a certain degree, I am one of those people. I have an Associate Degree in Residential Design and I have often thought of going back to school, but I just don't have the desire or dedication to do that anymore. Does my decision make me a failure? Well, according to some people I have met, yes it does. I have been told if I was to go back to school and get a degree that my work would become more, "justified". Well, so be it. But I've made my choices and I'm comfortable with who I am and what I do.

But, I am also a big supporter of continuing education. Technology today is far ahead of what it was when I was younger. Plus, knowing this technology and inputting it into the work anyone done does now days is a plus. Sure, I can plunk along on my computer to get my writings out, but I ask assistance from other people when I need more resourcing. Another words, I ask questions. To me this is a very important element to success. If there's something I don't know much about or I need more info on a topic, I'll ask. Isn't that a novel idea? How often do you ask questions?

I am a little lucky when it comes to penmanship. It started way back in fifth grade. I tried my best to, "stay within the lines" when doing our exercises and I got good grades. But one day our teacher had a contest in penmanship and I lost out to Sheila King. I've even told her this story many times and we still have a good laugh over it. Know why she beat me? Because she made little, "o's" over her, "i's" instead of dotting them! And to think this happened so many years ago, but I remember it! Kind of funny, but from that day on I tried my best to always have good penmanship and going on into drafting and home designing, I had to have almost perfect penmanship, so it all worked out.

But today I see so much bad penmanship that I will challenge people. I say things like, "Is this what you call readable?" I am a firm believer that your writing is a direct link to yourself. I was told many years ago that how you write tells who you are. Well, if I can't read what you just wrote, how can I tell who you are?

Now, I am not trying to say I read or write better than anyone else. What I am really trying to say is that today's world is so fast paced and because computers now doing the, "writing" for many of us, penmanship has become somewhat of a lost art. But here's a question? How many times do we just sit down to write a letter anymore? How many people write novels or books long hand anymore? How many people even WANT to write anymore? Well, I think there are many, many people who do just that. I just wish young people today would take a deep breath, step back and take a little more time to learn these two talents a little more.

As for me, now I'm asked by my grandchildren, "Grandpa, can you read me this book?" Those are some of the most beautiful words to my ears. The next step will be helping them to read on their own and then to write their names.

Life is grand.