Importance Of Experience And Literacy In Life

Being literate can be thought of in a heap of ways. Whether it’s a combination of skills, the ability to think critically, or having the knowledge and the capabilities to do something well.

Early on in life, I learned being literate or illiterate doesn't only refer to how well or awful someone can read or write. Learning how to drive is one of one of the most memorable moments of my life. At age 9 my mom would allow me to climb onto her lap whenever we got to our road in Ridgeland, SC. I would control the steering wheel. Making many successful left and right turns. Some a little rougher than others. Of course, my limbs would be too short to reach the acceleration and braking pedals; so she would assume that responsibility. At this point, I convinced myself I knew everything there was to operate a motor vehicle. I’d watched my mom hundreds of times and practiced only a few. However, it wasn't until the day I decided to take my mom's 2005 Volvo for a joy ride that I realized, I was beyond illiterate. I had no clue as to which pedal was for acceleration and which was for breaking. I didn't know how to change the gear of the car from park to drive nor did I know how to reverse it. My ignorance was present. After only being behind the wheel all of 13 minutes, I managed to sideswipe a light pole and run into a tree taking a 200 mph airbag to the face causing me to have a concussion. That day, I put my life at risk and totaled my moms' car. It was like a movie I never thought I’d play a part in as I stood there in shock. Reflecting on the incident, I realized it was that moment that impacted my life forever. “It is the things in life that cause the greatest trauma that end up shaping us if we find the lesson it was trying to teach us,” my grandma once said. What I learned after that moment was the responsibility and complex knowledge required to drive, I greatly lacked. Crashing that car taught me to slow down. Not rush into the driving process for it’s something my immature mind wasn’t quite ready for. Also, any time I enter a vehicle, there is a chance I may not make it to my destination.

At age 15, my mom enrolled me into Think Safe Driver Training, a driver’s Ed class. It was until I started that class that I began to acquire literacy about what it takes to be in the driver seat. I learned many different things from vehicle control, learning to read road signs, and speed management to lane merging, simple reversing, and parallel parking. However, driving isn’t a skill that fully emerges during a Driver’s Ed course and it does not remain fixed. In fact, no amount of training can substitute for an actual experience.

Over the years, it was my own experiences and literacy that kept me from panicking when faced with sudden heavy rains that keeps me from clearly seeing the car ahead, or hitting a puddle of water causing me to hydroplane with traffic only inches away. We all have moments in our lives that have shaped our definition of literacy. Many of us, however, take advantage of privileges that we are given to become literate. We jeopardize a lot in the process all while gaining.