NEW YORK STORIES

12:00 AM Prueba 0 Comments

II.
THAT ONE TIME I WALKED IN A MUSEUM AND FOR THE FIRST TIME IN LIFE REALIZED, THAT I ACTUALLY KNEW SOMETHING…


My mom and my grandma are two of the women that most inspire me. I know that sounds clichĂ© and most people tend to feel this way about their own, but I can’t deny it’s true. The reason might be the fact that both of this women have had their fair share of obstacles in life, but despite those difficulties I find it mesmerizing how they’ve managed to become the strong, independent, wise women that they are.
Now let me make a remark on the WISE aspect. WISDOM, as many WISE men say, will take you far. But I’m not talking, and most certainly they are not referring either to being the MVP regarding the Pythagorean Theorem or quantum physics, which I’m not saying are not important for some to know, but I feel like wisdom is much more about knowing many things regarding many subjects.

For example, wisdom can be knowing of matters of the heart through experience or a life as a witness. It is knowing how to behave in a social environment, set a table, be a great host, use a full set of cutlery, knowing the different purposes of every cup and glass and what sort of wine to pair with every course. Wisdom is quoting authors or doing references to read books. It is knowing about art, literature, music, people and history and using all that knowledge to understand and better perceive the world around us. It is knowing how to unfold among others gracefully and it is too knowing how to cope with said wisdom. 
A wise person doesn’t need to brag about what he or she knows, they learn for themselves, for the pleasure of being able to know a little about everything. And they accept that there are things that can’t be learned because only age can teach them. Wisdom is also knowing when to stop, when to back off, when to let go, when to turn the page and keep moving forwards.

All those aspects are for the the pinnacle of wisdom, and I can easily pin them on those two women in my family. Sometimes, when I used to spend weekends at my grandma’s we would lay down in bed on Sundays just to talk…. And I would learn so much and feel so little because I knew nothing.
And so years have gone by and I have tried my best to learn a bit about everything hoping to be one day what my Grammy was to me: A long legged encyclopaedia. JUST KIDDING. I really just want to resemble her and feed my curiosity; and because of that I’ve read, I’ve studied, I’ve wondered and analysed hoping to do so. Thing is, this sort of wisdom is not like learning for a test, were there are specific questions to be answered. This  sort of facts randomly pop into your head.

But now I’ll guess you’ll be wondering why I’m telling you all this. Well, New York if anything is a place to learn. A vast majority of touristic hotspots are museums and as a sucker fot those I obviously intended to spend a few hours roaming around them.  On my  first day in the city I decided to go to the Museum of Modern Art, better known as the MOMA. It had been ages since the last time and I remembered little of what I had seen. So, I bought a ticket, eagerly walked in and as soon as I did I saw a Rothko. A Mark-freacking- ROTHKO ladies and gentlemen. And why was I saw excited? Well, it was not precisely the 3 colored stripes on the canvas that made me sigh, but the simple fact that I saw it and KNEW IT WAS A ROTHKO. Then I made a turn and guess what I found? A POLLOCK! Without getting closer to read the description. Then I stumbled across a MONDRIAN and a MATISSE and even Warhol made an appearance. And I just could not get over my excitement. For years and years I was used to having my mom or grandma pointing out artists and their stories while we walked down a museum and for the first time I realized I wasn’t like Jon snow, because I actually knew something. The effort paid off and I actually learned a lot at as well, unlike other times. I feel that our parents take us to this places to create a habit or a curiosity, because it is until you get a little older that you actually start soaking up on everything that a museum has to offer.
SO, that’s the tale on how I somehow realized that little by little I’m learning. And becoming who I’ve always wanted to be… So I guess, that if it gets easier regarding knowledge at the museum, it’ll get easier in life and maybe someday someone will be able to ask me questions to which I will know the answers. 

R.Woodworth

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