Craving for Knowledge.

Long time ago, the quality of a person's life depended on his/her blood. For example, a man with royal blood found himself bathing in abundant riches where as a poor peasant found himself living in the dirty streets, surviving on crumbs of bread. The latter would never receive the same opportunity as the man with royal blood. Now with social hierarchy gone, individuals, including those from the lower class, has the chance to achieve spotlight. That "chance" increases with the accumulation of knowledge. Put simply, the more you know, the more likely you will succeed.

I have always perceived knowledge as a ticket to attain your desires in this competitive world. Why? Because time is always limited and the quickest and the most "efficient" way to judge someone is through their knowledge. Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that you have to be smart to survive in this world. What I'm trying to get across is that even though many people try to implant the idea that creativity, motivation and passion possesses higher importance than simply knowledge, there is still this hunger for more information. South Korea, where I live, illustrates such trend.

For those of you who had the chance to walk around in a small, but crowded city of Seoul, you probably noticed kids ranging from six to eighteen, running into one of many academic institutions called "Hakwons". Many parents pay unbelievable amount of money because they crave for "advanced knowledge". A fifth grader will go to these hakwons and learn seventh grade math. In this society, not only the quantity matters, but the speed as well. The faster you attain information, the more you can learn in a limited period of time. I guess such "hunger" can be both good and bad. It does keep the society moving forward with new discoveries, but at the same time, when looking at it in a bird's eye view, we're all overly dependent on this knowledge. It has become a vital necessity.

Too many times have I heard people say, "I'd better know this".

Never have I heard anyone say "I'm full, I think I should stop."

So,

Are you hungry for knowledge today?

Picture: http://www.intellisearch.no/upload/Solution%20pics/knowledge.jpg