Beginners are people too初學者也是人

I really like this article “Beginners are people too” which I recently came across on the Backcountry Blog. The author, an experienced climber, finds herself reconsidering her behavior towards new climbers after she becomes the rookie on the surfboard.

For many sports I do, I still consider myself a novice; therefore I appreciate all the suggestions and comments I can possibly get from the pros. At times, I have to share my experience with or instruct a pure newbie to some sports I indulge, for example, I taught a few friends how to ski and last Saturday I ran a beginner gym rock climbing session for my club. Facing beginners, I usually find myself worrying about two things: 1. I worry whether I can help create a good first-time experience so that they will decide to come back; and 2. I worry whether I am giving them too much information which they might consider worthless. Then I start to worry that maybe I worry too much.

It is a common plot in many Chinese martial arts novels that an aged kung-fu master gets excited and gratified when he finally locates a quality pupil. They always say that people naturally know that it’s difficult to find a good master but people don’t usually understand that it’s more difficult to find a satisfying pupil. Even so, skilled kung-fu masters never stop searching because they don’t want their skills to fail to pass down to later generations. We might feel “the frustration of attempting to help someone who is completely unreceptive to suggestions” from time to time but we know we’ll never stop sharing as long as we’re passionate about what we are doing. Also there is always someone like me who really appreciates advice on safety and efficiency.


最近在Backcountry Blog看到這篇文章「初學者也是人」，相當喜歡。作者Sarah攀岩的經驗豐富，文章中，經由嘗試衝浪，得以有機會重新體驗初學者的心情，進而檢討自我對攀岩初學者應採取的態度。

我目前從事頗多項不同的運動，大部分的時間，仍然覺得自己在各項運動都還只是個初學者，因此對於朋友或是進階者所給予的建議以及批評，都是心存感激。偶爾，也有機會教導比我更沒經驗的初學者，分享我的心得。比如說，曾經教過幾個朋友滑雪，上週六為我的登山協會辦了個攀岩初體驗等。面對這些首次接觸該運動的初學者，我發現我總在擔心著：一來，怕這「第一次」經驗不夠有趣，第一次變成了最後一次；二來，我怕我汲汲於分享自我的經驗，他人覺得厭煩。最後，我開始擔心我是不是擔心太多了。

從小看武俠小說，常看到這樣的情節，當武功耆宿找到資質佳骨子好的徒弟，於是欣喜若狂，不能自己。總是這樣講的，大家都知道徒弟找師父困難，卻不了解師父找一個佳子弟更是難上加難，不過卻沒看到哪一個師父放棄尋找心目中恰當的徒弟，就怕一身的好功夫會失傳。所以，我們也許會擔心「好心給予建議，他人卻完全不予採納的挫折感」，不過，如果我們真對所從事的運動保有熱情，仍然會不吝於持續分享自我的心得的。更何況，一定還有很多像我這樣的人，對於刺激自我成長的建議和批評，心存感激。