Diversifying Teachers

“You can fill a book, a lot of books, with what Dad doesn’t know. And they have, which is why I read.” – Remy from the movie Ratatouille

It’s amazing where little bits of wisdom can come from…even animated rats. There are actually quite a few quotable moments in Ratatouille. Kudos to the writers. What strikes me about this quote is Remy’s reasoning. As a rat, Remy was not supposed to read or get close to humans, but he did both in order to broaden and brighten his horizons. It seems to me that we should take a similar approach. How often do we stick with the same “teachers?” News programs, magazines, friends, parents, ourselves. One thing I like and have benefited from in regard to the Internet/social media boom is the plethora of teachers. The great thing about it is that, not only do we not have to stick with the same teachers, we can intentionally diversify our teachers by following those who have very different or even opposite points of view from our own in order to broaden and brighten our horizons. At the very least we can take a cue from Remy and read, even if for no other reason, because others have taken their time to fill books (and websites and blogs) with stuff we don’t know.

~ John