Learned and Learning

Learned and Learning

I just read portions of a book in which each paragraph begins with the phrase, “I have learned…”  It is a book in which the author lists the many things learned through her terminal illness.  I have not yet read much of the book, but already I admire her for taking the time to write of her experience with her serious and terminal condition.

My thoughts, however, cannot but go to a statement that I heard from Charlie  “Tremendous” Jones” when I heard him speak many years ago.  He humorously dismissed those who say, “I have learned.”  Instead he insisted on the phrase, “I am learning.” There is a definite difference in the two phrases.

There have been many times when I have thought that I “learned” something only to later discover that I was either mistaken or at least did not understand the situation completely.  To say, “I have learned,” has an air of finality about it from which one might have to retreat later.  However, to say, “I am learning,” leaves one open to the possibility of new information, continuing growth, and possible adjustment or change.

I am continually discovering that what I thought I learned in the past often has to be re-visited as experience and new information have emerged.