Introduction

In many cities in America, universities are often the single largest employers. This suggests we place, as well it should be, high value on the learning that can be accomplished in such environments. I certainly placed great value on this kind of learning myself; having done course work in three doctoral programs and three masters programs in addition to an undergraduate program. And at least as important was the opportunity to finance these great institutions. I paid on at least six student loans forever. I felt my real passage into the fruits of adult life came when these were finally paid off.

A number of well-designed studies suggest much of what we learn in academic institutions is forgotten in a surprising short period of time. A notable one of these studies indicates that on the day newly-minted physicians are graduated from medical school, 94% of the factual information acquired in four years of training has been lost. I am certain I have also forgotten at least 94% of what I learned in medical school, despite doing well in my course work and national board exams. One might legitimately wonder about the merits of an educational process which appears to have an 'efficiency' of retention at graduation of only 6%. If I took my aggregate student loans and divided by this 6%, the cost per factoid retained in my brain is horrific.

There is no really effective or even fair way to assess the true knowledge output of a university. Those of us who have sat through ten or fifteen years of post-secondary education are probably full of ideas about how best to de-construct American education and rebuild something new which has a lower co-efficient of torture for students and at the same time makes learning a more effective process. Happily, a number of our best institutions are experimenting with new forms of learning and radical changes in curriculum design. Unfortunately, I went through too early and now have a fatigued overfull brain, filled mostly with forgotten trivia. Perhaps the main benefit from having lived on seven campuses is the inculcation of the wonder of learning and the magic of new vision for how our world works.

Yet, there is a quiet, unsettling question which hangs on the fringes of my consciousness. Did I gain any wisdom by spending seventeen years in universities, or did I merely gain some expensive factoids? The Book of Ecclesiastes suggests the writing of many books is endless and that excessive study of books is wearisome to the body and soul. In both dental and medical school, we were quite happy and eager to point out the theological merits of this passage to our course masters. They didn't bite. All nighters and blood-shot eyes were normative for years.

It has been more than ten years now since I last sat in lecture halls grinding away at a degree of some sort. And it has been a blissful six years since being rid of some very thick student loan coupon books. From this vantage point I suspect the real lessons for me did not even happen in the lecture halls of America's great universities. Looking back I realize much of the learning which imparts wisdom and has real staying power is found in some of the most unlikely of venues. In fact, real learning can occur in almost any place where we live out the fabric of our daily lives. The key to this learning doesn't derive from earning degrees, or making loan payments; it simply requires paying attention and being open to the most unorthodox of teachers.

Ten years ago I face the prospect of a neurologic disease that could cut me off below the knees about fifty years early. I suddenly, without any great virtue on my part, became an attentive student to what really matters most in life. If the truth be known, fear can be a powerful motivator and it sure was for me. As the saying goes: when the student is ready a teacher will appear. They came out of the wood work and it wasn't the woodwork of fine paneled lecture halls in ivy-covered Gothic buildings. For ten years I have had teachers show up in the most unlikely places.

Consider the battered kitchen of a state park group lodge. In this ignominious white plywood structure a teacher of the greatest stature humanely taught me of the awfulness of a critical spirit. In wonderment I sat in awe as this gentle giant taught me of the great merit in withholding judgement of others. After two days in "His Kitchen" I felt I had earned a degree in humility. Sometimes lessons require repetition to be learned properly. In my own kitchen I had a "Second Chance" to learn that judging people will only result in alienation and in many cases the loss of magnificent friendships. I also learned that I am really thankful that close friends cannot read my mind.

For as much time as we spend in automobiles in our car-dependent culture, it only makes sense that major learning might occur in the garages of our life. My employer provides a garage and in there I have had numerous near-epiphanies of learning. One day while looking for "Parking Spaces" I discovered that I have been on a moral and ethical slippery slope for years. There are things I do now that I would not have dreamed of doing twenty years ago. There are things our culture now accepts for our children that biology teachers once wouldn't accept for their frogs.

Another time while observing the proliferation of new "S.U.V." trucks in the hospital garage it occurred to me those of us who have elected to travel by faith rather than by sport utility vehicle will be given the opportunity to exercise an option on a one-way ticket to the most exotic and fabulous of all destinations, a city where the foundation blocks are made of priceless stones and the streets of transparent gold. By keeping our minds on the race before us and not being distracted, we will win the grand prize that doesn't depreciate and lasts for all Eternity.

In the garage there are many vehicles with personalized license plates. These often proclaim very loud messages that may not have been intended. Whether intentional or not, we all make declarations with our lives each day. We have the conscious choice of declaring where we place our trust. We trust God or money. We can't serve both.

Airplanes have proven to be high places of learning, figurative and literally. A dear friend learned of "A Greater Power" while flying through level IV thunderstorms and dodging a swarm of tornadoes. She learned of the quiet peace that can allow slumber in the midst of the storm. My impotence to come to her aid was all too apparent. All I could do was pray. I was to later learn this was more than enough. With several hundred flights to my credit, I also know there is nothing of greater value than peace in the eye of the storm. Eventually we will all make a "Final Flight" from this world and we can have faith that we will have a safe landing on the far side.

Perhaps the grandest place of higher learning is the back hall of your nearest nursing home. There is no pretense in a nursing home. One can find immense pain, drools, profound loneliness, long nights, and opportunities to receive the greatest of wisdom. One learns what really counts. In my daily journeys on those days numbered "1531-1641" since the last lost-time accident among the nursing home employees I have learned of the priceless value of memory and the inestimable value of a day. I have started to learn to live each day as though it might be my last.

Desks in banks and offices are not generally considered places of higher learning; higher finance perhaps. I found an exception to this on my "Blotter" one day when I returned from a local bank. In an instant I realized that our security does not come from the corporate world or top management. I understood that security, and even lunch, comes from the unseen, unnamed benevolence of others, often from the One unseen in the day to day frenzy of material life.

Each of us is given myriad opportunities to learn the important lessons of Life. The important issue is whether we are willing to be life-long students. Each day I encounter people who remain closed to the lessons of life and end up paying tuition of a magnitude they had never imagined; divorce, disillusionment, bankruptcy, failed health, loss of integrity, broken dreams, even early death. They got the same opportunities as the rest of us. They just weren't in a learning mode.

We often don't have a choice about the challenges life presents to us but we do have free-will in deciding how to respond to them. We can embrace the One who gives Wisdom to live life abundantly. May these vignettes inspire you to find the pearls of learning and wisdom to be harvested from the depths of your own life.


"Acquire wisdom! Acquire understanding! Do not forget, nor turn away from the words of my mouth. Do not forsake her, and she will guard you; Love her, and she will watch over you. The beginning of wisdom is: acquire wisdom; And with all your acquiring, get understanding. Prize her and she will exalt you. She will honor you if you embrace her. She will place on your head a garland of grace; she will present you with a crown of beauty. Hear my son, and accept my sayings, and the years of your life will be many, I have directed you in the way of wisdom ..."
Proverbs 4:5-11