It
takes considerable knowledge just to realize the extent of your own
ignorance. -
Thomas Sowell
Today
is Day 37 of this “adventure” I'm on. It was a rainy day as
Carolyn drove me over the 7 mountains and through the 7 valleys (it
almost sounds like the song we sang as kids at Thanksgiving and
Christmas about going to Grandmother's house) to my Monday radiation
treatment. The rain was good. It has been very dry in this region and
we're not seeing anything of the seriously beautiful fall colors this
region is known for due to the dryness.
We
reached Winchester early enough to make a stop for some quick
breakfast before heading to the cancer center. I walked in about five
minutes early and they were ready for me, so I was finished five
minutes early. Carolyn and I went over to Costco (we seemed to be
drawn to that establishment even though we don't necessarily need
or buy anything). From there we headed to Judy's house to drop me
off. Judy wasn't home, so I let myself in, then carried my small
amount of traveling “stuff” up to my room. Carolyn headed back to
her place in West Virginia and I went up to my room and rested for a
while.
I
had an engagement at 3:30 PM at a local church in the Winchester area
to do a little consulting. The topic at hand was sound and how to do
certain enhancements to their system. The main issue is to mainly
improve the sound of the musical portions of their Sunday worship
services they stream live on the Internet. The main beneficiaries of
this improvement is their shut-ins and others who may not be able to
attend the church service for any of a variety of reasons.
It
is said, “knowledge is power.” I strongly believe this. However,
like everything, one must take this “power” and use it wisely.
This is called wisdom. I certainly hope after more than 55 years of
working with so many facets of sound and in such a wide variety of
sound environments, that I have acquired the necessary wisdom to pass
on to others to their benefit.
I
also remember my father saying to me and others many times, “Everyday
I learn more and more about less and less until one day I'll know
everything about nothing.” I thought he was speaking in riddles
back then. Today I truly understand what he was telling me. Thomas
Sowell had a different way of expressing a similar piece of wisdom.
See his quote at the beginning of this article.
Today,
probably more than at any other time in human history my father's and
Mr. Sowell's words ring true. There is so much new knowledge created
in every hour, day, week and month that it's impossible for any
single human being, or even an extraordinarily intelligent group of
human beings to know all there is to know about anything, let alone
everything.
I
felt confident and comfortable today in sharing my knowledge and
wisdom with the very nice folks who met me at the church. I believe I
imparted some valuable learning on them about how sound works and how
we humans process sound through the most magnificent receptors and
computers on the planet and possibly in the universe, our ears and
brains. I believe I also left them with a better understanding of the
challenge of acoustics and utilizing certain audio “instruments”
to achieve the objective they have.
For
me, it also gave me something meaningful and productive to do during
this period of my new adventure. It is in my DNA (as it was in my
father's and is in my son's) to be helpful to others. So, now, I'll
do a little research, put together some kind of proposal to include a
few options and, perhaps, even do a few tests with them to help
achieve their goal. This will make me feel my time here is of greater
value. Today was a good day. Any day when you wake up and are still
upright and can help others is definitely a good day.
Live
free and be happy. EH
1 comment:
Daily Mission Accomplished. Your father's quote about learning more and more about less and less made me guffaw. ;)
Post a Comment