Be An Expert

Grayson has been interested in the stars ever since he was old enough to look up. In fact, his very first word was star.

I've learned that if I'm in a hurry to keep his attention fixed on the ground if the stars are out, because if he gets a good look at a starry sky, it becomes imperative that we all stop what we are doing and look at a specific star. Somehow he knows if I fib when I say I can see the one he's pointing to.

We decided to head down to the Lethbridge Astronomy Society's open house. They bust out the telescopes and give a lecture once a month for anyone who wants to come. We figured we'd meet someone there.

We met a guy named Rod, who used to be the president of the organization, but is now taking a bit of a back seat to let others take on that role. He was more than courteous, and spent over an hour with us going through the basics of telescoping, and exactly what to buy for beginners (I'm gonna get one for Grayson). I could barely get a word in the entire time.

This is because Rod is passionate beyond reason about the stars. He just got back from a stargazing trip to New Mexico, and will be heading to Hawaii soon to get a better view of when Venus passes in front of the sun. He knew everything under the sun, and above it, about the stars. He obviously has spent thousands of hours gaining this type of knowledge on the subject. He not only was able to teach me about it, but could simplify it down so that even Grayson was left listening with rapt amazement.

I think that Rod is awesome. He is an expert, and that is something that I want to aspire to be. Everyone should be an expert on SOMETHING. It could be an instrument, it could be insects, or weight training, or art or history or whatever. Being an expert in something gives you a passion that you can share with other people.

Now when I say be an expert I don't mean read a wikipedia article, although those are really good and I think college professors are WAY too hard on poor old wikipedia. Learn everything about a topic. Experience everything about that topic. Know so much that people will want to listen to what you have to say.

I'm not really an expert on anything yet. I've kind of dabbled a little in almost everything. You could say I'm well-informed on almost every topic, yet an expert in none. I'm going to try and be  little more like Rod, and get a mastery on something. Maybe cats. The internet people love cats.

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