Knowing

We know a lot more than what we know we need to do with what we know.

At our earliest age we begin to know things before we know what to do with what we know. An infant understands language before the development of what to do with that language. For example, a two year old child, after receiving a gift from a grandparent will be asked by Mom or Dad, "And what do you say to Grandma?" Everyone enjoys hearing the child say, "Thank you." Same child may have a vocabulary of only a few words, but early on the important words are learned, and even before the child is able to verbalize these new words, hearing and listening them repeatedly, and in appropriate contexts, constitutes the foundation for doing something with what we have learned, what we know.

Of course, children also quite quickly pick up on those words heard around the home, words parents many times wish they had not used. It isn't as cute when a two year old spews a profanity, leaving an embarrassed parent with no recourse but to exclaim, "where did you hear that?!," while everyone else simply rolls their eyes.

We learn first, then do something with what we have learned. Knowledge precedes language.

This post submits to the reader a challenge to proactively surround yourself with important things. To do otherwise will create the prospect of learning lesser things, even junk, which then serves as a catalyst to do something with the junk just learned. A silly example, perhaps, is music. There's good music and there's bad music. How many of us, after decades of remembering a really bad pop song of years past, can still sing that song word for word? Marketing knows the insidious power of commercial jingles (think, "Save big money at ...") Once the jingle gets embedded it is virtually impossible to remove the "knowledge" of the marketer.

What to do? Steer away from junk and toward quality. Dump the bad stuff in the recycle bin and delete the entire bin. Create more memory space for what is important. We know how to keep our machines clean. Let's be as diligent with what we know. If most of what we know is truly important, then it follows that what we do with what we know will improve. What we have to say will actually carry substance. People will value our contributions because the weeding of unimportant matters has already occurred. Don't be a receptacle for what the world thinks is important. Make those decisions yourself.