Things everyone should know how to do
What's on your list of things everyone should know how to do? Looking for ability, not understanding theory here.
Change a tire
Hook up jumper cables
Tie basic knots (bowline, figure 8, slip knot, half hitch, clove hitch are my big 5)
What else?
Everyone should know how to :
apply direct pressure to stop bleeding
give a good clean hug
sit still and quiet the mind for several minutes at a go
express feelings and needs (all sorts-- yes even those)
research--(ie read well enough and understand well enough how to use a library so that you can find out whatever you need to find out)
prepare an edible meal
react to danger without freezing up (takes practice)
enjoy a sunrise
befriend an animal
sit with the dying -- without trying to fix anything (tough one)
compress a chest to the tune of "stayin alive"
listen to the still small voice within
walk into a foriegn culture and make a friend
grow a plant from seed
pace yourself for a long walk
dance with abandon
sing (even if you cant carry a tune)
make a child smile --or better yet laugh
start over when things fall apart
notice the in-breath and the out-breath
celebrate without getting drunk
drive a stick shift
love selflessly
I agree with all of that! I think I would add...
• Definitely some CPR in general would be good (the pressure to stop bleeding and pumping to "Stayin' Alive" etc).
• Maybe this is the boy scout in me, but knowing how to handle a pocket knife and/or chef knife. And how to sharpen a pocket knife on a wet stone, too.
• Personal finance. It sounds like a no brainer, but Amy used to work for a bank, and people always came in with really dumb problems because they didn't understand how to do the simplest thing like balance a check book. Many young folks don't know how to invest or save money, and don't understand the consequences of credit and debt. I wish a course like this were part of the general ed. requirements for college (instead of some of the lame, useless ones we had to take).
• Know how to use basic tools. Again, it seems simple, but I've known plenty of people who didn't know how to use a saw properly, for example. I still remember my dad showing me when I was a kid. Or knowing how to hammer nails, use wrenches, etc. My wife's mom used to by my wife's brother old broken stuff like TVs and let him take it apart. You learn all sorts of things, not just about tools.
• How to communicate with the opposite sex. I really enjoyed John Gray's "Men Are from Mars..." book and it helped me understand a lot. Men and women are different creatures and it helps to know that what you mean is not always what's heard.
• Nick mentioned giving a good clean hug. I'd add learning how to express affection among other men. Again, this sounds silly, but I grew up in a house full of boys, and while we loved each other, we were never good at showing it. I've promised to myself to be much more expressive with my son (hugs, kisses, etc.) But, you know, in a macho way, of course 😄
• Become friends with someone from every age group. I find there's always something wonderful to be gained by being friends folks from different stages of life, with really young people, people just behind you in life, people just ahead, and people way, way ahead.
• Work a job behind a cash register (or waiter). When I did, I could always tell the customers who had never worked that kind of job before, and they could be, well, a-holes. I think everyone ought to understand what it's like to work in a service industry. I also think learning the value of good, hard labor is good. I work at a computer all day, and sometimes, you know, I really envy those dirty, smelly, hardworking blokes on "Dirty Jobs".
I would agree with all that. I liked Sean's idea of working behind a register. I completely agree with that. Only thing I would add is being able to laugh at yourself.
from robert heinlien-- in the "notebooks of lazarus long"
A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects."
Perhaps unrealistic, but everyone should know what makes him or her happy.
nick lowry wrote:from robert heinlien-- in the "notebooks of lazarus long"
A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog.... Specialization is for insects."
THANK YOU so much for that quotation, Nick. I heard it years ago from another Aikidoka in Sydney, and could not remember it properly. But also, I had never known that it came from Robert Henlein.
By the way, I am new in here. Thanks for letting me join your forum!
David Harvey,
in Sydney Australia
your very welcome David-- glad i could help