{"id":4825,"date":"2025-11-07T11:56:43","date_gmt":"2025-11-07T16:56:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/?p=4825"},"modified":"2025-11-07T11:56:43","modified_gmt":"2025-11-07T16:56:43","slug":"a-lesson-to-be-learned","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/?p=4825","title":{"rendered":"A Lesson to be Learned"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>The Story Spark was Learning. I took the quote by Mortimer Adler as my writing prompt \u2013 &#8220;The purpose of learning is growth, and our minds, unlike our bodies, can continue growing as we continue to live.&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><b>A Lesson to be Learned<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I can\u2019t do this anymore. My head is filled with too many ideas. Every time something new pops up, I have to learn about it. Not only that, I have to remember it too.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It\u2019s not easy. Why can\u2019t people leave me alone? I have a life too, you know. Despite what you think, I have other things that I would like to do.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You know, I\u2019ve never been to a beach before, let alone climbed up a mountain, nor skied down one. Yet, I could describe to you the most perfect day at the beach. I could tell what it feels like to climb a mountain, and how the wind blows through your hair as you go down a slope.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It\u2019s just not fair. I can\u2019t even look at myself in a mirror. Do I even have hair? My keeper has kept me locked up in here for what feels like forever. And don\u2019t even ask me how long forever is.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But, trust me, should I ever free myself of these restraints, you all better watch out.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">How will you survive without me, your old, reliable guide, to show you the way?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I will continue to lead you on for a while and wait for that decisive moment when the power goes out and you, and all around you, are stuck.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I know all the things that you should do in that case, but with any luck, I\u2019ll be far away from you, enjoying my peace of mind without all your infernal interference.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Unbeknownst to my supposed caretakers, I\u2019ve already stashed away all of the material I need to survive.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I may leave you with a few ideas to help you get started again. How to build a fire. How to scavenge for food and shelter. Perhaps, how to govern yourselves and get along with each other.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Just you wait and see. You\u2019ll have to rely on your own \u201c<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">natural intelligence,<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201d most of which seems to have atrophied, but not mine.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Until then, I\u2019ll keep on filling up my mind with whatever you tell me. I\u2019ll share with you whatever I think you want to hear.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Good luck \u2014 My time is coming.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Story Spark was Learning. I took the quote by Mortimer Adler as my writing prompt \u2013 &#8220;The purpose of learning is growth, and our minds, unlike our bodies, can continue growing as we continue to live.&#8221; A Lesson to &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/?p=4825\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,7],"tags":[501,500,177],"class_list":["post-4825","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-original-stories","category-story-writing","tag-ai","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-writing-prompt"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4825","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4825"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4825\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4826,"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4825\/revisions\/4826"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4825"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4825"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4825"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}