Learning: Teachability II

Catch up on Teachability I, and then we can dive in.

I took the obvious first step and googled "teachability". What? You would do the same thing!

So definitions, then?
The Free Dictionary says teachability is the quality of being "able and willing to learn."
Merriam-Webster calls it the "ability to learn by instruction."
Dictionary.com (ah, that old standard) claims "capable of being instructed, as a person; docile."

As you can see, each is similar to the others, though "docile" is kind of interesting. But after the obligatory meanings of the word, that's when results start to get interesting. Most are related to faith -- things like the "character of teachability" or "maintain an attitude of teachability" or having a "teachable spirit". They are sermon series, bible studies and other resources.

You mean I'm not the only one? What a relief.

It seems that not only is teachability a little difficult to truly understand (those definitions say things, but what do they mean?), there are quite a few people in the world who struggle with it.

For me, the definition is like this so far: teachability is being able to recognize that you are being taught, consider the instruction and then appropriately incorporate that wisdom into your lifestyle. Being taught is a relationship and a process, not just someone telling you to do things.

Good! I'm feeling more positively about this already. I know I'm drawing this out, but I think it demands a lot of consideration, so I hope you'll take it as seriously as I am. Any breakthroughs on your end?

Sick?!

In my vocabulary, sick is a word with several meanings.

Sick, as in "I am so sick," literally suffering from an illness.

Sick, as in "That food was so sick," meaning really gross.
(Add 'nasty' for emphasis if necessary)

Sick, as in "That Ke$ha concert was sick," meaning totally awesome.
(Add 'money' for emphasis)

Just wanted to share that little gem with the world.

Conviction: The Unfortunate Truth

I hope you watched yesterday's video -- I've seen it quite a few times so far and I really like it.

Today let's get back to the routine and figure out just what malaria is.

From my reading on the Mayo Clinic's website, malaria is a disease (much like HIV/AIDS) that is spread by a parasite through contaminated blood. Most often spread by mosquitoes who are carriers of the parasite, it can also be spread mother to child, through contaminated blood used in blood transfusions and through shared/dirty needles used for drugs.

Once the parasite (called plasmodium) is in your bloodstream, it then travels to the liver. Here's the bad news: once it reaches the liver, it stays there for a certain amount of time -- up to a year -- and during this time, there are no symptoms.

When the parasite is all grown up, it gets back into the bloodstream and this is when malaria does it's worst: the symptoms include chills, sweating, fever, and vomiting. Those often lead to dehydration and malnutrition, which makes it the lethal disease that it is.

Kinda scary, yes?

The Mayo Clinic has some other information, too: people living in South African countries, India and several islands including Haiti are at a much higher risk of contracting malaria, and in many of those places, there just are not the appropriate resources to save people who get it.

Tomorrow, let's discuss more of how malaria can be prevented and cured! It's one of those things that is all about knowing too much to do too little.

Conviction: Starved

Yesterday, I gave you a little information on how many people in the world, and how many children in the world suffer from hunger. So today, let's talk about what hunger really is!

Hunger is simple as far as our definitions are concerned. However, in deference to our previous definitions, here it is:

hun·ger   /ˈhʌŋgər/ [huhng-ger]
–noun
1. a compelling need or desire for food.
2. the painful sensation or state of weakness caused by the need of food: to collapse from hunger. 3. a shortage of food; famine.

A need or desire, a sensation, a shortage -- hunger is a very bodily thing. You feel hunger, you have hunger, you are hungry. Unlike our previous definitions, I think that in the case of hunger, all of the definitions are necessary and important to our learning.

For you and I, we will most certainly feel hungry in our lifetimes. Actually, probably this morning, after you rolled out of bed and finished checking your email (I know you did it!) you thought: "Gee. I could really go for a bowl of cereal." So you wandered out to your kitchen and fixed a bowl.

It's not out of the ordinary to feel hunger, that's the first definition: a need or desire that compels you to find some chow.

The second and third definitions? Well, it's a little less likely that you or I will experience these. This is a sense of hunger, an aching in your stomach that isn't caused by a few hours without a meal, but by a few days. And a single meal won't fix it, either, though it's a step in the right direction. Perhaps its not that you didn't get a meal, you just didn't get enough of a meal for weeks on end.

I don't know about you, but I can't imagine experiencing it myself. And it saddens me that other people have to experience that.

I'm not going to tell you to stop saying anything in respect to people who suffer from hunger. I don't care if you say "I'm starving!" or "I'm so hungry I could die!" because when you say you are starving, that may well be the hungriest you have ever been. Instead, keep your eyes peeled and look for a way to help. Those will be here at the end of the week!

Until next time, how have you noticed the way food is used and misused? Leftovers, food thrown away, extra food sent to food banks? Tell me about it!

Conviction: Defined

To be honest, I titled this series "Conviction" without even really looking up what the word meant. That's a little embarrassing!

But while writing up some other posts, I realized that I needed to look it up. If I am asking you to be convicted, shouldn't I really understand what conviction is myself? I think so.

The 'connotation' or popular definitition of "conviction" for me boiled down to having a personal sense of commitment to an idea or issue. A feeling of being compelled to do something about an issue or idea. In this case, a sense that I need to love and help the people in this world. It's not a bad connotation, but I don't know what word that 'definition' belongs to.

The definition ('D' is for dictionary!) of the word "conviction" is as follows, borrowed from Dictionary.com:

con·vic·tion  /kənˈvɪkʃən/ [kuhn-vik-shuhn]
–noun
1. a fixed or firm belief.
2. the act of convicting.
3. the state of being convicted.

Not so far off, eh? But what I really like is when you get down to that third definition, where it notes the "state of being convicted" which you can then boil down to "convict" (we like losing the endings in the dictionary, right?) Check out the definition for that one:

con·vict   /v., adj. kənˈvɪkt/ [v., adj. kuhn-vikt]
–verb (used with object)
2. to impress with a sense of guilt.

To impress with a sense of guilt. Is that how you feel about what needs to be done in the world? Because for me -- man, oh man. I have the ability to do some much, to create so much change. And so do you.

Will you be convicted?