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Reader question: Please explain “baggage” in this sentence: We all have baggage. It’s time to heal and let go. My comments: Here “baggage” is a figure of speech, referring to some sort of hurtful past experience. The Chinese used to say that once bitten (by a snake), twice shy (of a rope). That fear of the snake is an emotional baggage which lingers on and is hard to purge. We all carry a baggage of one sort or another. It is, in fact, part and parcel of our upbringing. As we grow up, we hear people – parents and teachers – tell us what to do (and what not to do) all the time and often times we take it for granted. We do what we are told to do without questioning whether what we are told is correct or whether they even have a right to tell us what to do or not to do in the first place. This is only natural of course. As we become adults, we often are able to tell the difference and learn to discard some of the teachings we have learned. For example, we have always been told that education pays. But once into society, we find it not to be the case at all. The mailman makes more money, for example, than the average post graduate. Therefore, we learn to modify our former blind belief in education by stopping reading any books from now on forwards. I’m kidding, of course. Education, especially self-education at work, still pays if you ask me – in more ways than one, as a matter of fact. But you have got to be flexible. The traditional book worm, for example, is probably out of fashion everywhere. Therefore, it is important to modify our previous faith in books, especially books that we read in school. | 
