What If NDG Became a Neighbourhood Where We Asked, “What Can You Teach Me?”

 

Every person walking through NDG knows something you don't.

The retired carpenter knows how to repair a chair.

The grandmother upstairs knows a recipe her family has made for generations.

The teenager knows how to do things with a phone that mystify half the adults around them.

The newcomer from another country speaks a language you don't understand and carries traditions you may never have experienced.

The gardener knows which flowers will survive in that impossible patch of shade.

The musician knows three chords that could get you started on guitar.

The mechanic knows why your car is making that strange noise.

The child knows a game you've forgotten how to play.

The senior on the park bench knows what NDG looked like fifty years ago.

And the person you pass every morning may possess an extraordinary skill you will never discover unless somebody asks.

“What can you teach me?”

I think that could become a wonderful A NuVo World habit.

We often think of education as something that happens in schools, universities, courses and classrooms.

But imagine thinking of NDG itself as a classroom—and every neighbour as both a student and a teacher.

Suddenly, an enormous university appears all around us.

No tuition.

No admissions department.

No degrees required.

Just people sharing what they know.

Imagine a retired accountant helping a young person understand a household budget.

A teenager showing a senior how to make a video call.

A French-speaking neighbour helping an English-speaking neighbour practise French—and then reversing the lesson.

A child learning how to plant tomatoes from the person downstairs.

Someone teaching bicycle repair in a courtyard.

A local chef showing six neighbours how to make one wonderful meal.

An artist setting up easels in the park and saying:

“Come paint with me.”

A musician bringing an extra guitar.

A newcomer teaching neighbours how to prepare a dish from the country they left behind.

A senior telling children stories about the neighbourhood they are inheriting.

Nothing needs to become a formal program.

In fact, perhaps part of the beauty is keeping much of it wonderfully informal.

“You know how to do that? Would you show me?”

Those words accomplish something beyond learning.

They communicate respect.

When we ask somebody to teach us, we are telling them:

You know something valuable.

Your experience matters.

I can learn from you.

That can be especially powerful in a society where people sometimes begin believing they no longer have anything important to contribute.

Imagine telling an 85-year-old:

“I'd love to learn how you make that.”

Or asking a sixteen-year-old:

“Can you show me how this works?”

For a moment, age, income, profession and status disappear.

There is simply one human being sharing something with another.

And then something else happens.

While we're learning to cook, repair, paint, garden, speak, play or build—

we talk.

We learn names.

We hear stories.

We laugh at mistakes.

We discover things about one another that have nothing to do with the lesson.

A skill is transferred.

But a relationship may be created.

That is the part I love most.

What if NDG became famous for neighbours teaching neighbours?

Perhaps apartment buildings could occasionally hold “Teach Me Something” evenings.

No elaborate preparation.

Everybody who comes brings one little thing they can teach.

How to fold an origami bird.

How to sharpen a kitchen knife.

How to say ten words in Arabic.

How to sew on a button.

How to throw a better golf putt.

How to grow basil.

How to play a simple song.

How to make the perfect cup of tea.

How to use an app.

How to tell a great joke.

It doesn't have to be impressive.

It simply has to be yours to share.

And imagine what children would learn growing up in a neighbourhood like that.

Not merely that knowledge comes from experts.

But that every person has something worth knowing.

Today's A NuVo World challenge is therefore two questions.

Ask one person:

“What could you teach me?”

And ask yourself:

“What could I teach somebody else?”

You may be surprised by both answers.

Because NDG already contains an astonishing library of knowledge.

It isn't sitting on shelves.

It's walking around us.

Let's begin opening the books.

Let's learn from one another.

Let's teach one another.

And in the process, let's discover one another.

A NuVo World — creating a NuVo, better world one day, one person and one shared lesson at a time.