Learning Every Day

including Sunday

So many things I didn’t know before. In fact, it’s a wonder I’ve made it this far in life. But the first fascinating fact is one I learned this morning from my early reading of Pardon Power: How the Pardon System Works — And Why by Kim Wehle. It’s the latest of my serious reads to school me on so many subjects. [I finished Jonathan Blitzer’s amazingly detailed story of immigration and think the next President should definitely consult with Jonathan on the southern border.] But back to Kim’s book where on page 41 I find out that the Utah legislature is still overwhelmingly Mormon, with that group holding nine out of ten seats. The history of how Utah became a state is engrossing and I’m barreling through this extremely well-written book. I’m currently on page 61, and I took it with me to continue reading while getting my monthly pedicure. I was completely unaware of the Mountain Meadows Massacre, which is why Utah is one of the subjects addressed in this book about pardons. I highly recommend Kim’s book to everyone.

And now for something I DID know about but erroneously assumed everyone else did too. I choose my pedicure salon particularly because they don’t have television and I enjoy just the easy listening music as part of my pampering (while occasionally reading as noted above). Well, this morning the music playing when I first sat down was “Let It Be” by The Beatles. I was singing along because it’s one of my favorites—but I sing softly because I really cannot carry a tune (ask my daughter or my BFF Carol). Anyway, I said aloud to the young woman doing my pedi that I loved the Beatles. She had no idea who I was talking about! So later I discussed the subject with the older people in the shop (whom I had always assumed were a couple but find out they are not). Anyway, all three people are from mainland China, and the woman told me she has been here fifteen years. None of them had ever heard of The Beatles, so I said I was amazed because I thought they were actually bigger than Elvis Presley. Guess what, the people hadn’t heard of Elvis either. So then just to be somewhat hip, I asked them about BTS who are at least Asian but actually from South Korea, but none of them showed any sign of recognition. The woman and I actually got on our phones to work the Mandarin to English app to clarify, and I brought up pictures of the young and older Beatles. But I guess they weren’t quite the worldwide phenomenon I had thought. Live and learn, eh?

Now I realize that music may not be everyone’s cup of tea, and particularly certain religious ideologies frown on it and the dancing which may ensue. But my point this morning is that besides having erroneously thought that everyone in the world had heard of both Elvis and The Beatles, I am still learning that I need to take a deeper dive into humility. I do not know everything, nor do I have the answer to all the world’s problems. All I do know for sure today is that I can keep learning and loving until the end of my days.

So as God on Substack said the other day, can I get a friggin’ Amen!

TTFN