Curious when you think about it... the most un-initiated would be the greatest methods of learning.
The fact is though, this would be true of my entire life.
Of course when I was 'The White Belt' in Life, I was 'the son', 'the student' at school, 'The private' later in the army. The beginner if you will.
I never thought of those roles because they were each unique, for me to learn different things.
It would not be until later that I would start experiencing what this truly meant.
And I will be honest... my greatest time of intellectual growth did not start until I was about 25 and simply has not stopped.
A prime example is that I recently found myself learning how to drive and how terrorist make IED's.
I know... I can see the jokes pop up from that... but I needed to learn these so as to help my son who is now 15 and eager to drive... and has a term paper due on the subject. To help him, I learned. And yes, I have been driving now for 26 years... but how to teach it is a different story.
How to help one learn is a constant challenge for not everyone learns in the same way.
The White Belt is a constant educational tool I use because with every new person I train, I look at each subject from a different perspective. I also learn what motivates them.
I have a former White Belt who is preparing to go become a mechanic... his desire is to work on Mercedes's later. I have another former White Belt going all State in Science, quite the banterer.
The list goes on and each one is a new experience.
A week ago, one of my Black Belts asked the question of who they would learn more from.
And as I sat there and watched, they all said their guesses. In the end, of course the instructor told them the answer and they stood there confused...
So what I did was I pointed out the curriculumn and pointing out the difference between a martial arts style and the entire wealth of information that goes into the creation of just 1 person... how could you compare the two?
Some the Light went on, some it did not. It took me a while so such did not surprise me.
It is because of this that I always look forward to meeting new students/people.
All are simply fascinating and each and every one of them open up an entirely new avenue for me to learn from.