“Question everything.” I am not to sure who the quote is attributed to, but they are wise words.

As young kids, this comes naturally, just ask any parent with young kids. I think some days I drove my parents crazy with all my questions. I think all kids are like this at one point or two in their lives.

When we get to high school and the take science and/or mathematics we are told to question everything, but I didn’t need a teacher to tell me this. I was naturally curious.

All my growth, whether it be educational, or spiritual, or emotional, was a result of my questions. Back when I was a kid, we used an encyclopedia, or the library, or asked adults (For you younger folks, there was no internet to make this easier 😉. The school of hard knocks was my “go to” source for answers.

I was one of those persons who tended to have to repeat the same (life) errors over and over again until I got it. The was mainly due to the fact that I was too pigheaded to change. I could give a bunch of life lessons here as examples, but to keep this blog post manageable, I will just use one.

One of the biggest, and difficult lessons for me, was asking for help. I believe this was because I have Cerebral Palsy and I felt I had to be independent. Another reason was that I felt I had to prove myself to others again because I had CP). The final reason is that I am proudly stubborn; once I make up my mind to do something, I had to do it. If this meant failing and try it again, then so be it.

The first time I sought help was when I suffered from depression and hit rock bottom. My family pushed me to seek help – government agencies and counselling. They helped and my life eventually improved. I have been unemployed two or three times in my life with almost a year, sometimes a bit longer, gaps in my employment record. I sought help each time, mainly though employment centers and later through friends (or friends of friends). I sought help, but it was only after I was successful on my own. It was never easy for me to seek help. I am too proud, too independent, and too stubborn. It’s who I am.

I love learning, and with learning, I have never stopped questioning why things are the way they are. The “big” questions, are ever present: Why am I here/why do we exist? What is my purpose? This is why I studied science, philosophy, and read a lot of (Catholic) theology books. I believe the answers to these two big questions cannot be found in any one field, but in the combination of each of these fields of education.

I will never stop learning, so I guess I will continue seeking answers to those questions.
—Robert Confiant 19 August 2018

In a previous post, I concluded that I can teach others computing. Yes, I can even if they have never seen or turned on a computer. This wasn’t always the case.

My first computer was an IBM clone (This is what they called them back in the early 1980s). I had an i286 with 512Kb RAM and a 40Mb. It was a low-end computer when I purchased it in 1991, but for me a newbie. I thought it was fine. It took me awhile to clue in, but once I realized that they were empty machines without the software. I quickly caught on (Remember, these were the days of the DOS prompt and Windows running as a shell and not as an operating system).

After a few months of playing with the computer, my brother asked me to teach him some stuff. I agreed and I sat down and showed him. Since, I had been acquainted with the system I moved quickly and never fully explained what I was doing. THIS IS NOT HOW TO TEACH ANYONE. I am afraid I scared him off for good.

Since then, I have had to tutor classmates through mandatory courses of the programs we enrolled in. I did so and successfully too; I might add. The trick you see is to start at the beginning or consider the person ignorant to the topic you are trying to teach. Also, and this is the key to teaching computers/computing never sit in front of a computer to teach another person computing. Instead sit the. “student” (for want of a better word) down in front of the computer and state each step in the procedure to procure the desired results (complete the desire computing task) and repeat until they have mastered that skill, and then add on to what was learnt adding a new next associated task. For example: Turning off and on a computer, next creating a file, next working on the file, next saving the file, et cetera, et cetera. Now, I know people what you are thinking, “What if I already know the basics?” If that is the case, then teach them from where they are at. Ask questions to determine what they do and do not know, then start from there.

Come to think of it now, over the years, I dragged a few fellow students through my high school/college courses through mandatory credit courses with the promise never to take the course in question again. In some ways, I should have heeded my own advice and changed majors at university.

Live and learn.
—Robert Confiant 15 August 2018