What's Luke Thinking?

“Either write something worth reading, or do something worth writing.” Benjamin Franklin

“Knowledge is wealth, wisdom is treasure, understanding is riches, and ignorance is poverty.” Matshona Dhliwayo

These two quotes and their relation to this blog will be explained in this post, but first,

about me:

I’m currently a second-year student studying Accounting at Marshall University, and while that’s nothing extraordinary, it’s nothing that should be taken lightly either. Each lived experience is unique in that no two people can live the same life, and what makes those experiences unique can be shared in order to have a greater understanding of humanity and its nature. I’ve always been a life-long learner and continue to be, stopping at plaques along the sidewalks, reading the fine print in museums, the prologues in books, the numerous newsletters I receive, and many more formats in which I enjoy a continuous stream of knowledge. While this almost satisfies my hunger for learning, there are two problems with it: there’s so much traffic that I can’t possibly remember everything, and it’s a one-way street.

This blog will (hopefully) help to solve both of those issues. Writing on one to a few things each week that I deem most interesting or most important forces me to review everything I’ve learned, helping it stay in my mind. Additionally, in the words of my ninth-grade English teacher, L.T. Baisden, “The one talking is the one learning.” Explaining my thoughts and elaborating on them further will help me explore them in a deeper manner and cement them into my memory.

Along with helping myself organize my own thoughts, I’m able to share them with people who are like me: life-long learners. Nothing I share will likely be profound or promise someone success in any part of their life; I’m (currently) a 20-year-old student with much to learn, not Sigmond Freud, but that doesn’t mean it’s not worth sharing.

Now, for the relation of what is currently my second and third favorite quotes:

“Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.” Benjamin Franklin

This quote has, for quite some time, been my defense for why I am not a writer. Rather than being motivated to write something, as some are by it, I am motivated to do something, since I would rather not write. In recent years, however, I have begun a desire to write something worth reading. I have had the pleasure of proofreading other writers who write on things they enjoy and want to share, and I have written my own fair share of essays, stories, articles, etc., but always with direction from someone else and never of my own accord or in the manner I choose. In part, the reason I haven’t done that yet is due to a lack of time, another part because I do not typically enjoy writing, but mainly because I have struggled to find a niche or topic in which to write. My own thoughts and interests vary from minute to minute, and this is a battle I fight on many fronts in my life: choosing a major, a future profession, and even something simple as what to do while on vacation.

Catering to my many interests has always been hard and choosing one of those interests to create a niche that I would be regarded as having deep knowledge about was a hard choice. As I’ve begun to learn more from others’ writing, I’ve realized that knowledge itself is a niche. I could share that varied knowledge with a different audience, or act as a funnel, pulling my knowledge of varying topics into one place. With this thought, I now hope not to write something worth reading or do something worth writing; I hope to do both.

“Knowledge is wealth, wisdom is treasure, understanding is riches, and ignorance is poverty.” – Matshona Dhliwayo

In a speech I was fortunate enough to deliver at my high school graduation, I created an analogy comparing knowledge to a “dusty trophy upon a shelf.” This analogy is inspired by the idea that knowledge serves the purpose of being taught and understood, not simply displayed. Facts do not change by our knowledge of them, and they exist without our knowledge until they are discovered, so us holding the knowledge changes nothing other than ourselves (what we do with that knowledge is a different story). Those that pride themselves on the knowledge they have and use it to show their “superiority” simply don’t understand what the value of knowledge is. As Dhliwayo says in the quote above “Knowledge is wealth […]” and it’s important to note that Dhliwayo does not assign an amount of wealth to knowledge, simply that it is. This distinction is the forerunner for an idea of knowledge being an extremely unique commodity in that it is the only thing materially available to us that its value does not decrease with the number of people that have it. In fact, in many cases, when knowledge is shared, it grows in value and power.

Not in order to give myself a greater status, but in order to aid the elevation of those around me, I hope to be able to serve as a sort of Robinhood of knowledge: gaining it from the “rich” and sharing it with the “poverty” stricken. I doubt I will be as successful as Robinhood, but if I lead the horse to water, I can’t be blamed if it doesn’t drink.

What now?

Now, I’ll continue my journey of discovery and work on how to effectively share that with others, beginning here. I encourage those reading to ask themselves how the two quotes above apply to their own lives, and if the results aren’t pleasing, ask how they can be changed. I’m taking my first steps to work toward where I feel my place is among Franklin and Dhliwayo’s wisdom, and I’d love for you to join me on that path.

– Luke

P.S. My current favorite quote:

“Nobody cares how much you know, until they know how much you care.” Theodore Roosevelt