In times of profound change, the learners inherit the earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists.
[Eric Hoffer]
On-Line Education Opportunitites
& Related Resources
Living and Learning!
a tale from childhood,
a personal trade-mark...
For as long as I can remember, I've thought of myself as an eternal learner, or a professional learner, if you will.
Whether I'm writing these pages for the Web, walking on the streets, going to the beach, enjoying talking to people, playing with children as if I were just one of them, singing and playing with friends or at night-clubs or radio/TV stations, teaching my classes at the university, passionately doing my research-work, writing my manuscripts, translating, driving my car, cooking a meal, watching a movie, a car race or a soccer match, traveling, or whatever else it may be, one thing is for sure: I'm learning!:)
Learning is synonymous with living, to me, as much as loving also is. I feel that the day I stop learning, I'll then be ready to die.
Though it is not possible to tell all the why's of life, I may venture that the seed for this feeling may have been passed on to me in a story that my grand-father once told little-girl-Mie. I'll share the story with you.
My grand-father (a medical doctor) was once at the bed-side of a dying elderly patient. According to local tradition, a candle should be placed in the hands of someone who is dying. The meaning underlying this cultural rite is that the candle light will illuminate the soul of the person, in the crossing from this world to the next.
But it just so happened that there were no candles in the patient's home. So, my grand-father asked the patient's family for a saucer, placed a chunk of cotton on it, poured alcohol onto the cotton and, under the mystified eyes of the family members gathered around the patient, my grand-father lit a match and set the cotton ablaze. He then helped the dying man hold that saucer and, alas, the patient had his light and could die in peace!
The elderly man, grateful for that surprising way of illuminating his voyage to the next world, turned his eyes to my grand-father and sighed: Living and Learning!
These were the patient's last words.
Somehow I loved to hear this story, when I was a kid. I suspect this was because of its originality, as well as the creativity inherent to my grand-father's swiftly resorting to what he had in his medical briefcase, so as to make up for a missing house-hold item, at that crucial moment.
Whatever the reason, that patient's last words--Living and Learning!--have accompanied me through life. As has the love of learning.
What's there more exciting, and at the same time enriching, than to discover, to be able to see through a new window, to feel new light sparking within our minds?!...
The present section therefore stems from both my personal and professional interest in education, in learning, and no less in people--i.e., us, the ones who do the learning.
I hope you'll find this section useful.
And, as I cannot obviously have a first-hand experience with every one of the tips that I'm listing here, please do share with me your own impressions regarding any which you have experienced first-hand, or learned about from a friend.
You can be sure of my genuine appreciation for any comments you share! For, at the very worst of hypothesis, you'll at least be allowing me one more opportunity of learning--which is obvious by now I love doing:).
It's about time I let you go check the many good learn-on-line opportunities that I have dug up on the net and am happy to share about with you.
Celebrating 
Net 
