"Experience manifests in the wisdom of a teacher."

Some days I wonder about experience. Isn't it really just a nice word for screwing up and having the ability to learn from it? Really.... how do you learn from something you do perfectly well the first time around? What kind of experience can you attribute to a moment like that? 'Did it once. It worked. Now I know everything about the subject'... uh huh, sure, my aunt Bertha...

Sorry, it's just that I hate that word.....experience. When you're out seeking a job, what do employers ask? Do you have experience in the field. When you're hanging out with people and they ask you about a topic... what they're really asking you about is your experience with the topic. And when people are all too personal and they ask you about your 'experiences' in dating. Well let's think about that last one. If you dated someone before and you aren't dating them now... is that a bad experience? What if you learned from it? Does it mean it's a good experience? But you just got your heart broken! How good can that be? Or if people are digging even deeper in your relationships and they ask about your innnocence on the dating plane. "Are you....experienced?"

It'd be a whole lot easier if they just used car metaphors and asked me if I was new to the lot or if I'd been for test drives.

What I'm really trying to say is that experience isn't all it's cracked up to be. If you go into any situation, thinking, "Is this going to be a good or bad experience for me?" You are soon going to hit reality like a brick wall. Sometimes, experiences aren't really there. You don't see them. You might do absolutely nothing for DAYS on end.... and later look back on it as an 'experience'. You might be up to your eyeballs in business and never reflect on any of the experiences you could have encountered during your busy period.

I guess what I'm really trying to say......is that experience doesn't matter. Life matters. What you do with life matters. If you don't have experience, it's ok. You don't have to! I don't ever want to swim in swampy croc marshes to get the experience.

Of course, if you want the experience, I'd suggest knocking yourself out first. I'm sure it won't hurt as much.