The progress of truth

It's the thought that counts

Today I was told this, by a person who I gave something to. Now normally I'd take it as an insult. Especially coming from the receiving person. But... This time, it is a complement and maybe the first time in my life that the thought has counted. I said something to someone, I did it in another language, and then I was mocked by someone else for using an online translator to help me. I do know a bit about that language, but I am parsecs from fluent and light years from even conversational. So as to not write something equivalent to the toddler speak that I may be capable of, I used the tools at hand. Luckily, even though the recipient knew I cheated, they thanked me and told me not only that, but what I had written about was wrong, yet thanked me anyways and followed up with "it's the thought that counts." Wow, the thought actually counted for something. Never before in my life has the thought counted. After cheating on a translation, then messing that up, and even writing something inapplicable to the conversation at hand, the thought counted.


the progress of truth

I am a believer in real knowledge, yet though I may laugh, I will not mock the tools of learning that are available to us today. Technology and institutionalized learning are both important parts of today's process of learning, and one is not necessarily better then another, as long as that which is being learned is true.


trolls

When a man seeks knowledge and makes a mis-step, if you correct him and he honestly seeks to learn he will thank you for your help, but if you mock him for his ignorance he will only learn to hate you. For if you mock a person who does not know any better what good do you do them if they truly seek knowledge but discourage their desire. I beg you, do not react to those who do not know as much as you as an elitist who guards the precious knowledge from them and mocks them for not knowing what you do. Such actions are folly and ignorance, for you bring insult to the very knowledge you have. By mocking the less educated all you do is discourage them from learning, and you at one point were in their shoes, uneducated and foolish. Do not build a barrier between them and what they seek, building walls to keep others out is not how you were able to learn. And it is not a fault that they do not yet know what you do.


the hero with a thousand faces

Joseph Campbell was mocked for his theories, even though movies like Star Wars, which were successful, followed his patterns to near perfection. Even worse, over time the writings of Campbell have been forgotten and discounted, yet they still apply today as the same stories get repackaged and people still buy them.