BY JAIME K. PIMENTEL – I’M doing a real selfie today. Please turn that iPhone camera on me because I have just graduated from college. Again.
I strutted up the stage to be presented with a Diploma of Business Management from a fledgling educational institution, Life Changing College, in Blacktown.
Never thought an 80-year-old geezer could struggle through seven months of an intensive business course, did you? Much less enjoy the journey?
Well, I did. And I’d recommend it to any octogenarian. In fact, I challenge any old geezer worth his salt to use retirement for a totally satisfying exercise.
What I rediscovered in the process was how little I knew about life and how much more I can grow. So true it is that there is no end to learning, to education.
Frankly, I look at my liberal arts degree, a masters in journalism degree, a physical education degree, and now my business degree as less of an achievement than some people may think. So much has changed since that I’d probably lag far behind these young guns in my chosen field today.
Such was my thirst for more learning that my first thought after graduation was: What’s the next course of study that I can’t take without driving my lovely wife out of her wits?
“Why don’t you just Google what you want to know?” she’d ask in exasperation. As if Google had all the answers.
But even if I did some self-study, it would not be the same as attending classes. There would no one there to challenge my mind, no one to add even more ideas to the process of my learning.
I must admit that it would take a good, open-minded and patient teacher to make my learning journey satisfying and worth the hours. Someone like mine at Business Management class: Linda Geronimo, for example.
Don’t tell I said so.
Let me leave you with these thoughts a learned today. And yes, I Googled the lines from BabaMail:
“We are now the oldest we’ve ever been and yet, the youngest we’ll ever be again.
“So embrace each moment of your life, make it count, do not let go of what you’ve learned.
“Experience is there for a reason and mistakes are part of it.
“Remind yourself of the wisdom you’ve gained, and as the years advance, make sure you age with grace.”
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