Learn, not just do

In the handful of years I have been able to serve in the great nations military, I have picked up a few simple philosophies. Many of these thought processes, I am unable to share and not because of some bullshit super secret squirrel line that guys use to part some chicks thighs either. Seriously some of them I can share because either they have no context to the civilian world, or they are just to fucked up for me to share. Though if you are as fucked up as me and the people I hang with then maybe you too could learn the mysteries of the universe. Military wisdom discovered a lot of things.

I have once sat around a smoldering coffee can with a hot coal in it to get my hands warm, and had a two hour discussion over the physics and social requirements of flatulence. We have discussed at great lengths the social requirements that force men to desire anal sex. I know why the top of chicken shit is white, and its not the reason you think. So many mysteries solved on a long convoy, over a bagged lunch that Uncle Sam provided (MRE). I have been brought to enlightenment by shear exhaustion. I once spent an hour contemplating my navel in the back of a large truck while other people pondered what I was pondering, and stared at my navel as well. Sleep deprivation is the key to really understanding the mysteries of the universe.

Aside from the way the military gets this shit stuck in your head, to a a point that years later you can recall boot camp in vivid detail but struggle to remember what your first date wore on the night you played stinky fingers the first time, there are other tools I learned to master a trade. The biggest one is the see, do, teach model. I love this, and I wanted to share it with you , because I truly think it would make the world a better place. It is so simple on the surface that anyone can start using it immediately. Its impact will last a life time.

The first part the "see" part is to damn easy. Unless you are blind you can see shit happen, and even Ray Charles saw in his own way. So in order to learn something you need to see it first. You need to have seen it done, or at least have learned of its existence. You need to the desire to learn it first. Think of sex, the first time you bumped uglies with Mary Jane Rotten-crotch (official military term), had you done research before, or at the very least been exposed to the idea of procreational recreation? You heard talk in the locker room, maybe got some porn magazines, or seen a video? So you got the see part handled right. You see shit, you learn about then you move on to the next phase unless you are some lonely lazy dumb ass that is terrified of life.

Next you do. To damn easy right. You do something. What ever it is you watched you do it, and you try to copy what you saw that is within your physical limitations. You at least try to pull off the iron cross on the rings at the gym to impress the ladies, even if you only hold it for a negative void of time because you spent to much time locked in phase one to work out, and you are just a weak flabby stack of meat with eyes. Seriously though we learn well by doing things, or at least trying. This is how people passed on the secret of fire as we grunted and groaned in caves with berry skins clinging to our ass hair. We tired to copy to the person next to us that copied the guy before him, and holy crap there was a fire in front of us burning our eyebrows and making us stink from both ends.

Last is the teach phase. Yep you saw, you did, and now you let others see. You do more than let them be a social voyeur, but rather you share what you learned with them. You become a part of their experience and you teach them. This does multiple things, and on multiple levels. First this is the shining example of walking the walk. You are not just vomiting words because some old asshole behind a pulpit told you too. This is not a do as a I say, not as I do scenario. You also get something out of it. If you saw it done, did it on your own, and then teach someone how to do just like you did, or as close as their bodies will allow them to replicate your ability, this action is burned into your mind for a long damn time.

This a great social exercise. It forces interaction beyond the general stalker phase. It makes people accountable for their own actions. It also burns the knowledge into your head and life just gets better for everyone. Life is about learning to me anyway, you carry all the stuff in your head when you die, so why not learn as much as you can, and figure out that teaching is just reenforcing the learning and making it stronger.