Create

Written for https://reinventionsreena.wordpress.com/2024/03/14/reenas-xploration-challenge-322/

If you are curious, isn’t it better to create opportunities, opening doors to a brighter future?

When I went to school, it was a different time. We didn’t do woodwork or physics. Cooking was strictly for girls. Now they can aspire to be whatever they want to be.

At fifty-four, I completed and passed my GCSE English (level 7), which would be an ‘‘A’’ grade. This year I am hoping to enroll myself in a GCSE Math’s class. After spending a multitude of years working in primary and secondary, I have learnt more. Mainly because as a teaching assistant, we need to listen to help the students with no understanding of what they are being taught.

I have always been a firm believer we are never too old to gain new skills. I recently started volunteering at my local theatre, so that when I retire, I can apply for jobs there. In addition to this, writing is a big learning curve for me. From when I wrote my initial book, to the last I self-published, I realised I had so much to gain from other writers.

Every single one of us, regardless of talent, can aim to become better. It is how humanity progresses. Einstein, Newton, Darwin or Marie Curie. Without their questioning natures, life wouldn’t be the same.

Technology moves at a furious pace. When I was younger, video recorders were the latest thing in. You could record a program and view it later. Now, there are downloads, and hundreds of television channels, it is hard to choose what to watch. My first game was Atari (pale lines and a small, flat ball, with another layer of black). If you showed this to children of today, they would not give it a second glance. There are generations who have grown up only knowing about mobile phones, PC games, Xbox and Playstations.

The differences in medicine. In the eighties, diseases could cause permanent damage. Rubella, Measles, Mumps and TB were dangerous. Since the early nineties, we have protection against them. With Covid, there were some brilliant doctors and scientists interested enough to secure the vaccine, which saved countless lives. Perhaps, we could find a cure for cancer.

Change is doubtless to happen, and I think it is important we don’t lose sight of our exploratory side. I read somewhere that an woman in her eighties, finally got her publishing contract. She didn’t give up, and neither should we.