Learning from expected sources

Back when I was young and thought I knew everything, I became an exchange student and was sent to the Netherlands. I had been in country for about 3 weeks struggling to learn Dutch when my host family took me to a party at the house of an aunt and uncle. There was plenty of conversation, but I couldn't understand any of it (too fast, too many big words).

Then I met Aimee. He was 25 years old and mentally disabled. He spoke slowly with a simple vocabulary - the only person I could understand! So I followed Aimee around the party for two hours like a puppy dog, asking him lots of questions like "what is this?" "how do you say that?"

As I sat in the car driving away from the party, I realized the importance of this lesson. And whenever I get smug about smart, I remember that there is something to learn from everyone I meet. I helps me to keep learning (hopefully!) every day.