I wax philosophical...

Seriously, I find myself most inspired at the library. There are very few place and people who have quite that effect on me, so thus, one again, my thoughts begin at the library. For those who don't know, I work at a library, and as I was processing some books today I came across this interesting quote. The quote: "The whole purpose of education is to change mirrors into windows." (Sydney J. Harris) Hmm, this seemed, at first to make a good point. It made sense, the more you learn, the more you begin to see the other where you once only saw yourself. How valid, how true. But isn't is not sad, that in trying to make those windows, to see through them, one can easily forget that every window is also a mirror? To forget to look at the reflection in the window can be just as much of a crime as to not look through it at all. Hold on, I'm getting a little ahead of myself. Windows, mirrors, huh? What do I even mean? Well for me anyway, this is what it means. Every window, every mirror (don't get technical on me, I know there are frameless one, I may get to that) and that frame represents a set of knowledge, an ideology, if you will. It may even be just a simple idea, anything that affects your mindset, consciously or not. A mirror is simply what reflects to you, a window what shows you beyond. To me, a window doesn't have to be restricted to that. It can also function as a mirror as well, albeit a mirror that allows you to see within and beyond. So in terms of an education, yes it is important for education to help expand the mind to new horizons. But what good is the knowledge of the world if it has no connection to you as an individual? If your adrift in a sea of ideas without the stability of a personal knowledge? Yes, I know we all have a base knowledge, but I mean something more personal, more real. Education needs to help us discover who we really are and what we can be.