Homwork due 3/22

For our homework, we were given two pieces of writing. One was Robert Frost's "Two Tramps in Mud Time," while the other is from a webpage, called "Practicing."
Robert Frost's poem talked about a man who was chopping wood, when two tramps came along, who's job it was to chop wood. However, the man would not pay the tramps to do the chore, because he was enjoying doing it, and didn't want to give up the task. Even though the tramps depended on doing menial chores such as this for their livelihood, the man desired to do the chore for pleasure. I wasn't sure whether what the man was doing was good or bad, or what I should think about it. My first thought was of India, where everyone has a chore that only they should do, so that each person has at least one job. For example, one would not take out one's own trash, because that is the job of the garbage man, and one would be taking away his livelihood by doing so.
Is it alright to take away from another their vocation, only so that one can have the pleasure of doing it oneself. In my opinion, I do not see what is wrong with trying out another profession, but if one is competing with someone who really needs that job, perhaps it is not so good. I know that in terms of my project, I will never become good enough to take the job of a fashion designer, however, I do have to deal with the fact that I am taking a space at Sew-Green as an apprentice, even though I am not going to do sewing as a profession. I'm just doing it to learn. Is that okay? My whole project is learning about a vocation that I will never actually do, and only rarely use as a hobby.
However, this is not a waste of time. I'm learning how to use a valuable tool, and be able to create what I draw and imagine. It's like learning to paint, or play the instrument. It might not be extremely valuable to me in the end, or necessary in any way, but I'm learning something new for fun, and that's very important to me, since in school, we normally just go through the motions of learning and forgetting, just to get into college.

Perhaps this is the true point of WISE. To learn only for fun, with no real purpose.

Realizing this, I have come up with a theory. Perhaps when we learn for fun, and actually have a reason or desire to learn something, we remember it better. For example, I still remember most of what I learned during my first Sew-Green lesson, however, I barely remember anything from the last unit in Chemistry.

Practicing is the part that is sometimes not so fun. Although practicing is a part of learning, it is often the most boring part. In the article, "Practicing," it talks about how, when learning to play the guitar, one must always practice what one has learned, and then expand one's knowledge by practicing what one has yet to learn, constantly building on what one already knows. I haven't practiced sewing at all. This article, reminded me that I need to pull out the sewing machine, and start practicing!