Education

 

It's important. Above perhaps anything else. It comes from all sorts of people, places, and concepts, but only means one thing- improvement. 

A goodly number of people might say 'growth', a regrettably common and unfortunate association. Growth is a largely negative side effect of any successful enterprise, and something to be ameliorated rather than encouraged. This applies to almost everything in mainstream society, but is aggressively ignored by the incompletely developed, the ethically bankrupt, the rich, the many world governments, and the corporations that own them. 

That's another issue I've the solution for, but that'll be here some other day.

My mother was a teacher for her entire career- I learned how to read by digging in her boxes of mimeographs, written notes, techniques, and research. Before even fully grasping what the notions meant, they laid a foundation for what to do and how to do it, and it stuck. Understanding how to do something is as important as recognizing who can do it if I can't, since to properly teach, one must first learn. 

I've learned one hell of a lot. Frankly, I have the Marco Polo Problem- if I told you more than half of the things I've seen, done, endured, and learned from... you likely wouldn't believe me.

That's where the problem arises. People have a tendency not to trust competence and expertise unless it's noisy.

To a degree, it's my own fault. Part of what makes me so valuable is my willingness to be and stay invisible while I work to improve. But that in itself prevents most people from taking my measure, and in turn prepares them to doubt.

 Irony, given the loudest voices tend to be those least worthy of being heard.