Help With the ABCs

Somewhere along this journey called life we learned our alphabet. We were taught the letters and even how to sing a song to remember it all. My guess is that even mentioning the alphabet song to you it begins to run through your head. The ABCs are the beginning. They are the foundation for our language and the ability to express and understand ideas and concepts. Without a solid foundation the remaining portions of life will have difficulty standing tall. 

After we learned our ABCs we were taught how to read. Some very patient teacher listened carefully as we read her the same story she had probably heard thousands of times before from other school children. Yet she sat there patiently listening to make sure we were putting the letters together into words and comprehending what those words were communicating. Then Dr Seuss and those red and blue fish began igniting our imaginations; they opened doors our little minds have never dreamed of before. Eventually Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys took us on incredible adventures, leading us through the looking glass with Alice and learning what it felt like to be little women or living on a house on the prairie. There were chocolate factories to tour and ship wrecks to survive. There were dogs named Clifford and monkeys name George. We could travel to space and the center of the earth and still be home in time for dinner. 

The love of reading is a gift. Somewhere someone gave you your first book, or a library card. That little card gave you license and the power to do anything you could learn or read or imagine. Ideas were encouraged and born, thoughts and concepts like courage, or fear, listening or soaring all became possible simply because you could read. And you could read because you understood the basics, the alphabet. The building blocks of waht makes your idea factory produce. 

So who around you now needs you to help them learn the foundational elements? Does a child need you to read to them before they go to bed? Does a coworker need help navigating a new software system? Does a parent need your patience as you teach them how to text? Or maybe you need someone to slow down and help you learn a new technology to move you beyond your current role? We all learned because someone stopped and made a point to teach us the basics. Maybe today oyu need to pay them back by teaching someone else. What do you know that would benefit someone else? Help that someone learn the ABCs for what they need to take their world to the next level.