A few days ago, Kevin "aka The Homeless Guy" at < http://www.thehomelessguy.net > had an article about people not "getting" what homelessness was about. I thought the article was very interesting and commented there about how people do not "get" a lot of things in life. I thought I would elaborate on my thoughts here.

Here is what I said in response to Kevin's article:

Hello Kevin:

In your "I've Learned Things" article, you talk about how most
people do not `get it.` Unfortunately, I think your comment has
broader implications than just for understanding about the
homeless. I believe the vast majority of people (including
myself and you and nearly anyone we can think of) do not
`get` MOST of what is going on around us. With the way
society is, it is enormously difficult to try to maintain or
become a broadly based person. The society in which we live
is continually guiding us to narrow our focus. I think this is a
very interesting notion.... and I think I will have it be the topic
of my blog entry tonight.

Thanks for the inspiration!

**********************************************

I think this idea is very important. Where has the well rounded person gone? Is it impossible to be a person widely knowledgeable about most topics (sort of a "Renissance Man" [excuse the spelling])? It seems that the focus on our society has become one of narrowing of focus, where many of us do not know what is going on around us other than what directly affects our own life... our own bottom line so to speak. I wish our society were different in that way.

How do some of us attempt to be widely knowledgeable? For some, the library is definetly the answer. I know my own time growing up and in adulthood has been widely influenced by having access to a reasonably good public library system. It has opened doors for me that I could never have experienced otherwise. Additionally, in my adulthood, the growth of the Internet has been a wonderful way for me to access other thoughts and ideas. In my early adulthood, I pursued and obtained a Ph.D. in a biological science as a means to attempt to broaden my understanding of the world. In many ways it has helped me as well, even though much of graduate education today is geared towards developing an extremely narrow focus. Obviously, a Ph.D. is not needed to be a well rounded person, but for me it did help. I hope I am reasonably well rounded and reasonably knowledgeable about many topics. If I am not, I am at least trying hard to be as open as possible to other ideas and insight. I am glad that I try hard to "get" the perspectives of others, and that my attempts have helped me be a happier person.

I think I have a bit of time left before my favorite tobacconist closes today.... I am going to stop here for now, and go to my own version of a "kid in a candy shop" adventure. I think it is likely that my tobacconist may have begun to bring out new lines of pipe tobaccos for the holidays and I am eager to see what he has come up with this year!