Necessity, the mother of learning

A couple of weeks ago my apartment experienced its first mini crisis. Thanks to a small… A couple of weeks ago my apartment experienced its first mini crisis. Thanks to a small steak knife, a Popsicle stick and a large chunk of rotted vegetable, our sink overflowed. As the murky, nasty smelling water continued to rise with no apparent end in sight, my roommates and I thought we might need to run to higher grounds – but time was of the essence. We needed to act and we needed to act fast.

We filled bucket after bucket with the dirty water and transported them to the toilet until the water eventually started its descent back down the drain. We then used paper towels and newspapers to absorb the water that dripped into the cabinet below the sink. Finally, we were able to use some Lysol to clean up the war zone that was our kitchen.

We successfully handled the situation – but if you would have asked me a year ago what I would do in an event like that, I would probably not have had an answer. If I did, I’m sure it would have either been to run away or beg and plead with a neighbor for help. This experience, like many others, has helped me to realize that when put in a situation, we can often do a lot more than we thought we were capable of.

In a world where there are an infinite number of things to learn, I think it’s best to just live life and learn things as we go. Each stage of life brings new challenges and sometimes necessity is the best means for overcoming such challenges. Chances are we’ll have a much better chance of accomplishing something if we have to or if something is at stake.

This being my first year living off campus, it’s the first time I’ve ever faced the responsibility of feeding myself. During the summer, various members of my family begged me almost incessantly to learn how to cook. Since putting food in the microwave was the extent of my skills in the kitchen, I completely understood their concern. However, I assured them that when dinnertime rolled around and my tummy growled I would have no other choice but to make some dinner.

Even though my chicken is usually dry and I have yet to perfect the art of cooking eggs, I’m surviving nonetheless. I’m no Emeril but I was able to learn the basics when the time came.

College is also a time when people can really find out how many or how few real life skills they’ve acquired through living at home. A friend of mine ranted about how pathetic it was that many students didn’t know how to do laundry when they reached college.

Even though I’ve been doing my own laundry for years, I didn’t share in his disgust. Maybe some really lucky kids had parents who took care of it. Or maybe someone had a sibling whose weekly chore was the laundry. Either way, the world didn’t stop when these kids went to college, and neither did their laundry. Maybe they had to ask a few questions or watch a laundry expert, but when the laundry needed to be done, they learned to do it.

I just don’t see the need in rushing things. I believe that a lot of the time when you’re pressured about something, all it does it make you nervous for no reason at all. How many professors or teachers have you had that go on and on about how hard a test will be, only for you to find that it was nowhere near as bad as he made it out to be? Probably not as many as you’d like – but you still get the point. All that additional stress was unnecessary.

Most people are able to get things together and figure them out when the time comes. Think about new mothers: Although many women take preparation classes, many don’t. They sort of wing it, using their motherly instinct and listening to the advice of or remembering the experiences of mothers past and present and do just fine. Just as there aren’t many college seniors who have never learned to cook or do laundry, there aren’t many mothers who have never learned to feed or bathe their children.

As humans we have an amazing ability to deal with challenges thrown our way and we often surprise ourselves with what we are capable of. We should try to reassure ourselves that things happen naturally, and we don’t need to rush. We learn from experience, listening, watching and necessity.

So for now, I’ll try to take things as they come, because I know that if worse comes to worse there are always people to ask – or of course, Google.

If you need someone to fix your sink, e-mail Anjali at amn17@pitt.edu.