Absolutely. I believe we’re born with two identities that never leave us: teacher and student. Not one replacing the other but existing simultaneously. Learning didn’t begin in a classroom, nor does it end with a retirement party. Our lives are stitched together from thousands of small moments, each one adding another sentence to the story we’re writing.
I didn’t arrive at that philosophy overnight. It began with a conversation I still remember almost word for word.
After using a word I’d recently heard, my grandmother asked, “Where did you hear that word?”
Thinking I’d made a mistake, I asked, “Did I use it incorrectly?”
She ignored my question and asked another.
“What does it mean?”
I didn’t know.
Then she gave me a lesson that has stayed with me ever since.
“If you don’t know the definition and can’t spell it, don’t use it.”
About a week later, my mother came home with two dictionaries, a student edition and a collegiate edition. I was only seven or eight years old. Looking back, I realized they weren’t simply books. They were an investment in my curiosity and a quiet belief in who I might become. That conversation marked the beginning of my lifelong respect for language. I stopped collecting words and started earning them.
I’ve always been more autodidact than academic. Many of my most valuable lessons never came from textbooks. They came from the elders who noticed I was paying attention, from mistakes, conversations with strangers, overheard remarks, books that challenged my beliefs, and experiences that reminded me how little I actually know. Every time I think I’ve figured something out, life has a way of handing me another chapter.
Being a lifelong learner also means being willing to change your mind. That’s harder than memorizing facts. It requires humility—the willingness to admit that yesterday’s certainty may become tomorrow’s misconception. Growth begins the moment we stop defending what we know and start questioning what we don’t.
My grandmother’s lesson never really ended. I still keep dictionaries and thesauruses within arm’s reach, not because I’ve earned every word, but because there are always more waiting to be earned. As long as that remains true, I’ll gladly remain both a student and, whenever I have something worth sharing, a teacher.
Memoirs of Madness 