It’s always at the end of class or the end of a semester that I realize how important the reading material we went through really was. It usually happens right after I`m done with my exams, and start packing away my class notes. I suddenly realize how silly and messy my early notes are, and how little attention I paid to a subject I now find a bit fascinating and interesting; And important. I suddenly understand why my teacher wanted me to “read Chapter 20 and Chapter 24, and write a short essay about the subject to be finished by next week”. Those chapters were really important to read!
One should refrain from trying to define “important reading”. What is important to you may not be of any significance for another. Some dude may one day need his knowledge of Ancient Greece, some gal may need to know how to start a fire with primitive tools. I might have use for my school notes about how Satan’s motivation in Paradise Lost may be used in a future debate about clinical depression, and I may not. (Since I am currently not involved in the field, who knows?) What I`m saying is that we collect a lot of knowledge in our lives, not all of it useful. Does that make is worthless, though? “Not useful right now” is not the same as “not useful – ever”. Verily, I might one day have to drudge up my memories of Satan’t motivations in an epicly poetic rewritten Creation. Or I might not. Maybe I should know more about how to start a fire with basic tools, instead? For all I know, perhaps I should start reading about how to defeat potential zombies. It might come in handy.
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One Big Echo~ 