Philology

Daily Gratitude Year 5-Day 46: Today, I am grateful for a philology diagnosis.

Philology: the love of learning and literature.

What a great word to combine two of my favorite things. Learning and literature go hand in hand. Both are a limitless landscape of discovery.

Just because someone loves to learn and read, they are not without a sense of adventure.They are not boring. The greats in any field or type of work are the ones who seek new ways, try new things, don't give up and see "failure" as an education as to how to NOT do something.

Patience is required, but not perfection.

The love of learning and literature... together... keeps us young. Do we every outgrow Dr. Suess? Or, Shel Silverstein? The boys have a big Dinosaur dictionary that still sits on the bookshelf. The wonder of these amazing creatures captures every boy's attention. I am confident that I can still watch an episode of "Miss Frizzle's Magic School Bus" and be entertained as well as learning something new through a child's show. The books are great.

Victor Frankl's book "Man's Search for Meaning" is an insightful snapshot into the human spirit... as a man wrestles with being a holocaust survivor when so many did not. Some gave up. Some lived. Some... survived and thrived after suffering.

The human spirit - our soul breath as I like to call it - was given to all. But, how we nurture and grow it will eventually boil down to free will choices... the relationships we chose to seek and the books we read.

The love of learning and literature brings hope, joy and wonder to any ordinary day.

The Bible, of course, is full of a combination of the two. It is a love story between God and humans and it is a beautiful guide to living a life where the choice to love is made daily. For those who have no interest in seekingGod and Christ... Proverbs is still a good read. If we read things that cause us to grow angry and feel hopeless, we will be angry and hopeless.

What we read can impact our emotions. Romance novels can create unrealistic expectations of real relationships... and I love a good romance. Still, they are fiction. Not the real world. A good biography can inspire us to do better, be better and brave being a catalyst for change.

The love of learning and literature deserves a word.

Today, I am grateful for a philology diagnosis.