To me, casual everyday conversations are opportunity to learn. While talking with people, I usually let them talk and I just listen. Not only for some tidbits of gossip they throw in from time to time to spice up the conversation but more importantly, I learn pieces of information for my own personal upgrade. I may appear to be dumb but I am actually gathering ideas for learning purposes.
I have been doing my best to commit to memory the things I hear and then write them later. (I have a problem with this though. I’ll explain it later). Of course, I filter what is beneficial and discard the rest. It’s like a miner screening some precious metal from the mud. For that, I am grateful for the lessons I have extracted from these people.
I even make the most of my time doing Facebook. I take note of the quotations, sayings and proverbs that I find interesting and store them somewhere. I already have hundred of them in my collection. I don’t just scroll and waste my time in social media. I make it productive.
I usually have a notebook and pen in my bag. Wherever I go, I have them. I write anything that tickle my interest. I guess it was a habit I acquired which started during my campus journalism days, my Criminology courses and could also have been the influence of great writers whose lives I have read. Even if I’m on the bus and while in deep thought or talking to myself and then some idea popped out, I write it.
I learned that I should not rely on my memory. A lot of times, good ideas got lost because I forgot them. This usually happens when I decide to write it later because I am busy doing something at the moment or no paper to write on. One time, an old timer was telling stories about the local people during the construction of the Halsema Highway. His story some how eluded my memory and until now, I could not remember it. And that’s how an interesting piece of history get lost forever.
This is the good thing about being teachable and willing to learn. You get to extract nuggets of wisdom while conversing with ordinary folks and not only from the discussion of experts. Sometimes, the good stuff are not found in a formal lecture. You will be surprised to find out how much knowledge you can gather if you take time to process the conversations you had with your friend you met in the sidewalk or while you watch movies or shows on TV. You see, the life experiences of people are great teachers.
There are people who are natural teachers. They willingly share their knowledge even without asking from them. So, I take advantage of those opportunities.
I recall one co-op leader while we were having coffee in one corner of a coffee bar. He explained what a co-op is without talking about the legal or technical definition. He simply said, “you get the good practices in democracy and the good practices in communism and you will have a co-operative”.
What idea could we possibly borrow from a communist ideology? You see, in a co-op, people are treated equally regardless of your status in society or whether you have a million in the co-op while the other has thousand. On the other hand, democratic principles are likewise observed. Elections are conducted in a general assembly meeting where the will of the majority prevails.
I guess we can say that Co-ops level the playing field. It gives all kinds of people the equal opportunity to participate in business undertakings and become capitalist.