“We are all teachers; we are all students.”
As long as we live we need to continue to learn, to grow, or we stagnate and grow truly old rather than wise. One of the best ways to do this is by reading: non-fiction, fiction, poetry, plays, personal essays, newspapers, etc. Some people ask what can you learn from fiction? To which I reply, human nature, conflict resolution, perseverance through obstacles, motives, etc. My undergraduate degree was English, but my M.Ed. is in Counseling. I’ve asked myself what connections there are between my interests.
Literature delved into the human psyche through fictional characters long before Freud. Readers learn the motivations, plots, interactions, and thoughts of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Lady MacBeth, King Lear’s daughters and can then recognize despair, guilty and selfish ambition, and insanity in humans. In psychology , one studies actual people who are complex with histories and backgrounds as varied as fingerprints
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