Education Leads to Freedom

"Education is the great engine of personal development. It is through education that the daughter of a peasant can become a doctor, that the son of a mineworker can become the head of the mine, that the child of farmworkers can become the president of a great nation." ~ Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom

Education is something I value. I guess that is why I am returning to university. I am reading this book as part of the preparation for my trip to South Africa. Mandela really is an interesting person. From the small village to presidency is a walk that not many people can say they have done.

During tonight's class, even though it is not a university level course, I thought how fortunate I am to be there. Not only because of the learning but because of the relationships I am forming and the experiences I am getting. We are an amazing group of people with such talent and energy that I am already dreading the last class. Part of the teachings tonight were on money and what value we place on it and on our talents. The truth was startling to many of us. We are rooted in our values and they can control us if we are not aware of how much power we give them.

Education comes in many forms. I keep replaying my vacation and all the things that I learned, especially those lessons about who I am and what I want in life. Travel is a form of education and one I embrace whole-heartedly. I was wrong yesterday about me letting go a little easier of this trip. I was miserable this morning as I drove to work. Not so much was I disheartened by the snow and cool crispness of the day. Rather I was questioning once again how I do not seem to find my joy in this first world as much as in the South. My soul is made to be barefoot and in the heat, living with a simpler lifestyle and a heart unburdened with material things.

This realization along with the money discussion tonight makes me wonder to what am I really being called. I think of the t-shirt I bought in La Cruz--life in abundance. I think a simple life can have all of the things one needs. I have to try to figure out this lesson in the coming year I think.

From my humble youth, where my father worked hard for his money and to provide his family with abundance, to my adult life where I now work hard to live a life of joy and service, this educated woman has made strides to personal development.

What about you--what role has education in its various forms played in your life? How has it transformed you and those around you?

Peace,

Suzanne