Amplifying Life

Amplifying means to increase, heighten or intensify. I heard the word used today when someone was talking about the young Muslim girl who was shot, because for several years she had been speaking out in favor of girls having education be available to them. Her name is Malala and she is from Pakistan. She wanted to be able to go to school to learn and to be an educated adult.

Laura Bush, the former First Lady, spoke about the courage of this young person and she said it was wonderful for her to amplify the cause she believed in.

Women now speak up and say what they think. When I was a youngster, the women mainly stayed home and took care of the house, the cooking, the children and their husbands. There were not many female lawyers, doctors, dentists or other manly professions. They were school teachers, librarians and nurses. Mom worked in an office doing typing all day long. It was tiring and she got paid per envelope she typed. She had better not make too many errors causing envelopes to be torn up. It was a tedious job, but it helped to pay the bills in those financially deprived times.

She worked four days a week and was home on the weekend and on Fridays. On Fridays, she cooked, baked, cleaned and the other chores necessary for the home life we had which was a very nice one. She baked from scratch and we always had homemade cookies and cakes available for our ‘ sweet tooth ‘as the expression was used.

Girls usually either went to nursing school or became teachers, because both were considered female jobs and if not them, you usually went to work after high school. I had no friends who went to college. It was not because we were not college material; there was no money to send us. Boys did go and my brother who was five years older than me plus he skipped two years of school because he was extra smart; he went to college and lived away from home and it was quite a struggle for them to afford that. In those days, young men going to college wore ties, shirts and jackets. So that was another expense too. No casual clothing was worn like now days.

I took some college courses while working and I would go to the class after a long day at work, which was at least nine or ten hours. After one semester, I found it too hard to study when I worked long hours and that was it, until I was thirty- three and married and with kids and went to get a two year AA degree. It took me five years going part time, but I really enjoyed it and since I was an old lady then, I was sixteen years older than the teens in my classes. There were not too many of us ‘older ladies’ then; so I felt like a pioneer. It was fun and I enjoyed it more than when I was eighteen or so.

I was proud of me doing that and when I got the diploma, you would have thought I was getting a PhD. It felt like that to me and I worked hard studying late at night after the kids were asleep and I graduated with honors and I even became president of the Art Club there.

Most of my acquaintances wondered why I bothered at that late age, but I loved it and my ego was sky high. Then I went on to further the degree and went to a four year college, getting admitted to the third year of a four year facility. I obtained enough credits to be considered a senior and then I gave it all up to take ballroom dancing. I went for lessons three times a week and that took over my educational aspirations. If I had tried real hard, after lessons for over six years, I could have possibly been given almost a year of college credit in something called Life Experiences. The dance owner would have to certify that I had spent six years of three times a week or sometimes two times a week and they may have awarded me the last thirty credits for Life Experiences.

I did not chase that part of the dream. By then, I was satisfied with the first degree and the additional year after at a state university. I thought about doing it with about eight courses a few years ago. The cost was prohibitive and at this point in senior life, it was not worth the expense. Who knows what the future brings and I and we may need that money for health care or health needs or just plain old nice living.

I am not a college drop out, I am a college drop in and I am proud of myself that at age almost forty, I got a degree and most of all with HONOR.

As Laura Bush said on the TV show about Malala, there is great pride in what this young girl tried to accomplish. She only wanted a simple education and she felt girls were due it. What wonderful speaking out she did, though she paid the price of being injured. She will be fine now with the medical care being given to her in England and she is a symbol all over the world, that speaking out, and amplifying her wishes, she is a true winner in life. She is not only a winner, she is a glorious soul who by doing what she did, lightens up the world with her magnifying thoughts on being educated.

She is a definite heroine and may she have good health and progress to her goal of being an educated young woman. She defied and she is a winner.

 Joseph Addison said “education is a companion which no misfortune can depress.” Edward Everett said “Education is a better safeguard of liberty than a standing army.”

So education at any time in life is your companion, your liberty and your enlightenment. Go for it regardless of your now age. You can always take courses to learn something new and if you do not want to study and take tests; you can always audit the course without tests and studying. Whichever you desire or choose, learning is your beacon in life.  Light up your life this coming autumn and learn something new and you will be a new somebody.

There is a saying “Don’t give up from what someone said, use it as motivation to push harder.”