Poem: "Whoever Tries to Understand"
This poem is spillover from the September 3, 2024 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by a prompt from Dreamwidth user Chanter1944. It also fills the "Agency and Power" square in my 9-1-24 card for the People with Disabilities Drabble Fest Bingo. This poem has been sponsored by a pool with DW user Fuzzyred. It belongs to An Army of One series.
"Whoever Tries to Understand"
Yarro had been taking
one test after another
since she had reached
the Lacuna, with Darmid
and Operetta working
to figure out her levels
of knowledge and skill
in medical matters.
She had basic and
intermediate first aid,
so Darmid was helping
her start on higher stuff
for emergency medicine.
Operetta, who had begun
as a hardware tech, was
setting up lessons for her.
Every lesson Yarro learned
led to another test about it.
She was working her way
through it pretty fast, too.
"You are voracious,"
said Operetta. "That's
a good thing in a medic."
"Well, I couldn't go outside
much," Yarro said, waving
a hand at her pale skin. "So
I just stayed inside reading."
"Then let me introduce you
to the ciphernet," said Operetta.
"That way, you can talk with
other people, learn from them,
and find your own things to read."
"Yes please," said Yarro. "Back
on Epizygis, nobody wanted me
to learn things, because I'm weird."
"Epizygis is stupid," said Operetta.
"So here's how you connect with
the ciphernet. Don't worry about
outsiders spying on us, it was
designed to block that."
Yarro watched and
learned as Operetta
showed her how to use
the ciphernet, and then
introduced her to some of
the other Lacuna medics.
"They won't mind me asking
them for lessons?" Yarro said.
"Of course not," said Operetta.
"Everyone needs to learn things."
"Really?" said Yarro. "It's been
so much better here, you and
Darmid have helped a lot,
but I'm not used to it yet."
"Life can give everything to
whoever tries to understand and
is willing to receive new knowledge,"
said Operetta. "So as long as you
are willing, we'll support you."
"I'm willing," Yarro said
as she lifted her chin.
"Then the next thing that
you need is actual practice,"
said Operetta. "Reading is
good, but it can't give you
muscle memory or develop
your bedside manner. You
need to work with people."
"Shouldn't I finish learning
what to do first?" said Yarro.
"The point is that whatever you
are trying to learn, it's necessary
to have firsthand experience,
rather than only learning from
books or from teachers or
by merely conforming to
an established pattern,"
said Operetta. "You can't
finish until you practice."
Yarro squeaked. "I want
to do that, but do you really
think I'm ready?" she said.
"You know more than I did
when I first started working
as a medic because of how
the secession left us short,"
said Operetta. "That's enough
to start assisting me here, and
once you're used to doing that,
you can answer first aid calls."
"All right," said Yarro. "I'll work
on my lessons, I'll start using
the ciphernet, and I'll assist
you here. I'll make it happen."
"Now, there's one more thing
you need to keep in mind,"
said Operetta. "Think about
how you feel, now that you're
free to learn what you want."
"Powerful," said Yarro. "I get
to do things, not just sit in
my room and pretend."
"Power and agency,"
said Operetta. "They
matter a lot, especially
to people in the Lacuna.
So we must never take
those from anyone, even
if they're hurt and we need
to take charge in a crisis."
"That sounds contradictory,"
Yarro said, nibbling her lip.
"No, it means that we have
to balance different needs,"
said Operetta. "So always
respect the people you are
trying to help. Give them
confidence when they
need it, and choices
as much as you can."
"Respect," Yarro said with
a nod. "All right, I can do that."
"I know you can," said Operetta.
* * *
Notes:
"Life can give everything to whoever tries to understand and is willing to receive new knowledge."
-- Pramoedya Ananta Toer
"The point is that whatever one is trying to learn, it is necessary to have firsthand experience, rather than learning from books or from teachers or by merely conforming to an already established pattern."
-- Chogyam Trungpa
"Whoever Tries to Understand"
Yarro had been taking
one test after another
since she had reached
the Lacuna, with Darmid
and Operetta working
to figure out her levels
of knowledge and skill
in medical matters.
She had basic and
intermediate first aid,
so Darmid was helping
her start on higher stuff
for emergency medicine.
Operetta, who had begun
as a hardware tech, was
setting up lessons for her.
Every lesson Yarro learned
led to another test about it.
She was working her way
through it pretty fast, too.
"You are voracious,"
said Operetta. "That's
a good thing in a medic."
"Well, I couldn't go outside
much," Yarro said, waving
a hand at her pale skin. "So
I just stayed inside reading."
"Then let me introduce you
to the ciphernet," said Operetta.
"That way, you can talk with
other people, learn from them,
and find your own things to read."
"Yes please," said Yarro. "Back
on Epizygis, nobody wanted me
to learn things, because I'm weird."
"Epizygis is stupid," said Operetta.
"So here's how you connect with
the ciphernet. Don't worry about
outsiders spying on us, it was
designed to block that."
Yarro watched and
learned as Operetta
showed her how to use
the ciphernet, and then
introduced her to some of
the other Lacuna medics.
"They won't mind me asking
them for lessons?" Yarro said.
"Of course not," said Operetta.
"Everyone needs to learn things."
"Really?" said Yarro. "It's been
so much better here, you and
Darmid have helped a lot,
but I'm not used to it yet."
"Life can give everything to
whoever tries to understand and
is willing to receive new knowledge,"
said Operetta. "So as long as you
are willing, we'll support you."
"I'm willing," Yarro said
as she lifted her chin.
"Then the next thing that
you need is actual practice,"
said Operetta. "Reading is
good, but it can't give you
muscle memory or develop
your bedside manner. You
need to work with people."
"Shouldn't I finish learning
what to do first?" said Yarro.
"The point is that whatever you
are trying to learn, it's necessary
to have firsthand experience,
rather than only learning from
books or from teachers or
by merely conforming to
an established pattern,"
said Operetta. "You can't
finish until you practice."
Yarro squeaked. "I want
to do that, but do you really
think I'm ready?" she said.
"You know more than I did
when I first started working
as a medic because of how
the secession left us short,"
said Operetta. "That's enough
to start assisting me here, and
once you're used to doing that,
you can answer first aid calls."
"All right," said Yarro. "I'll work
on my lessons, I'll start using
the ciphernet, and I'll assist
you here. I'll make it happen."
"Now, there's one more thing
you need to keep in mind,"
said Operetta. "Think about
how you feel, now that you're
free to learn what you want."
"Powerful," said Yarro. "I get
to do things, not just sit in
my room and pretend."
"Power and agency,"
said Operetta. "They
matter a lot, especially
to people in the Lacuna.
So we must never take
those from anyone, even
if they're hurt and we need
to take charge in a crisis."
"That sounds contradictory,"
Yarro said, nibbling her lip.
"No, it means that we have
to balance different needs,"
said Operetta. "So always
respect the people you are
trying to help. Give them
confidence when they
need it, and choices
as much as you can."
"Respect," Yarro said with
a nod. "All right, I can do that."
"I know you can," said Operetta.
* * *
Notes:
"Life can give everything to whoever tries to understand and is willing to receive new knowledge."
-- Pramoedya Ananta Toer
"The point is that whatever one is trying to learn, it is necessary to have firsthand experience, rather than learning from books or from teachers or by merely conforming to an already established pattern."
-- Chogyam Trungpa