By U Khin Maung (A retired diplomat)
1. It is a tradition for us to start learning during the first or the youthful phase of our life, to accumulate wealth during the second or the prime of our lives and to work for our own deliverance from this Samsara, during the third or the waning period of our life. Well, I hope you will agree with me if I say you have already passed your first phase of life. Now you are in your prime of life. In other words, by now, you have learnt a lot — you are highly educated. But I think, you have or shall I say, we have quite a lot more to learn. Learning should never stop. Learning is a never-ending process, it’s a lifelong process.
2. So, let me say, in plain and simple language, that we must go on learning. And the urge for knowledge should be the hallmark of our lives. Knowledge should always be at the top of our minds. Concerning the powerful urge to learn, I would like to reproduce what Mr Roland Gelatt, a late famous writer had once said. It reads as follows: -
“All normal human beings are born with a powerful urge to learn. Almost all of them lose this urge, even before they have reached maturity. It is only the few who are so constituted that lack of learning becomes a nuisance. This is perhaps the most insidious of human tragedies. Children are wonders at increasing their vocabularies because of “their powerful urge to learn”.
“The adults, who “lose this urge” and who no longer feel that “lack of learning become a nuisance”, stop building their vocabularies. They stop learning, they stop growing intellectually, they stop changing.
When and if such a time comes, then, “this is perhaps the most insidious of human tragedies”. But fortunately, this process is far from irreversible.
If you have lost “the powerful urge to learn, you can regain your need to discover, to figure out, to understand to know. And thus, you can start increasing your vocabulary at the same rate as when you were a child”.
“I am not spouting airy theory. For over thirty years I have worked with thousands of adults in my college courses in vocabulary improvement, and I can state as a fact, and without qualification, that: - If you can recapture “the powerful urge to learn”, with which you were born, “you can go on increasing your vocabulary at a prodigious rate”. No matter what your age. “After all, age is no barrier to learning.” I am sure, you can do it. Believe me, the constancy of effort is always crowned with success. Regularity is the source of success. The only thing you must have is whatever your age, “the powerful urge to learn”.
3. To sum up, I would like to quote some old sayings as follows: -
“Brain is just like a muscle. Use it or lose it. In fact, learning, like ageing, is a natural process. Once you stop learning, your brain stops changing, developing and working.”
4. I am a retiree, in my 85 years of age. But I am still learning and writing some articles. Due to his kind-heartedness, and rich experience, some of my articles are kindly seen in print in the esteemed newspaper – The Global New Light of Myanmar. Many, many thanks to the chief editor and staff. Through this article, I pay homage and deep respect to all my teachers, as part of the Five Infinite Venerables: What do you say, my dear reader?
Definition
(1) Deliverance = Setting free လွတ်မြောက်ခြင်း၊ ဝဋ်ကျွတ်ခြင်း။
(2) Insidious = Operating in a slow or not easily apparent manner, more dangerous than seems working or to do in a hidden or secret way, curing or treacherous ပုန်းလျှိူးကွယ်လျှိူး
(3) Spouting – spout = to spout words in a hasty, irresponsible manner. အာဝဇ္ဇန်းရွှင်ရွှင်ပြော
(4) Airy = Lighthearted, vivacious, gay.
(5) Urge = (N) strong desire (VT) drive forcibly (or) encourage (or) entreat earnestly (or) persistently
(6) hallmark = (N) mark indicating the standard of silver, gold, platinum, distinctive feature of excellence. ရွှေထည်ငွေထည် မှန်ကန်ကြောင်း အာမခံ တံဆိပ်
(7) Maturity = (N) Mature (adj) = with fully developed powers of body and mind, adult.
(8) prodigious = (a) marvelous, enormous, abnormal
(9) far from = very different from being, tend to be the opposite
(10) Irreversible= (adj) not reversible or alterable.
(11) Figure out = work out by arithmetic or logic.
(12) Source = A place from which thing comes or is got: person or book etc., providing information at source; at point of origin.
