I Learn by Doing: A Personal Meditation on the Batak Proverb
I Learn by Doing: A Personal Meditation on the Batak Proverb "You learn how to cut down trees by cutting them down." — Batak (Batiki) Proverb That line hits different when you’ve lived it. I chose this proverb for Day 3 of Tribal Quotes because it calls out something deep that many of us are missing: the wisdom of experience. Too often, we get stuck in thought, tangled in theory, or lost in the illusion of needing to be fully ready before we act. But this proverb cuts straight through the noise. You want to learn how to cut down trees? Then cut them down. That’s it. No Flight School for Birds Flying is complicated. Aerodynamics, balance, wing structure—it’s not easy. But birds don’t have academies. They learn to fly by flying. We learn to walk by walking. We learn to talk by talking. And we learn to live by living. But somehow, we’ve been convinced that real learning happens only in classrooms, through lectures, in books. Don’t get me wrong—I value study. But too many of...