I’ve come to understand that knowledge should not be kept to one’s self and the “teacher”  should encourage their students to keep learning.  It would have been selfish if Malcolm X learned the “white man’s” language and used it to his advantage to get to the top. Instead, he used his self education to open the eyes of many black men and women.  Of course,  Malcolm X didn’t just decide to start reading, better his writing and expand his knowledge on the history of African Americans. He was influenced by Bimbi, an older prison mate. He observed how Bimbi spoke and got his point across without having to use inappropriate language.  ” Bimbi had always taken charge of any conversations he was in, and I had tried to emulate him. But every book I picked up had few sentences which didn’t contain anywhere from one to nearly all of the words that might as well have been in Chinese. When I just skipped those words, of course, I really ended up with little idea of what the book said. So I had come to the Norfolk Prison Colony still going through only book-reading motions. Pretty soon, I would have quit even these motions, unless I had received the motivation that I did.” (4)Malcolm was inspired by Bimbi, so he tried reading but on occasions  felt like quitting because he just didn’t seem to understand what he didn’t know. Bimbi showed support to his wanting of knowledge but he never tried to control Malcolm’s own way of learning. X figured out that by copying the dictionary he was able to memorize and learn many words. Once Malcolm X had expanded his way of thinking he knew how to put it to use. He kept himself disciplined in reading books at all times. This is a world that he entered and did not want to step out of.  “You will never catch me with a free fifteen minutes in which I’m not studying something I feel might be able to help the black man.” (22) He realized that the skill he attained could be used to do good for his people. Do you think Bimbi knew what Malcolm X was going to become? No, he didn’t but he still ignited a fire in someone who became one the most articulate and powerful leaders of America. Everyone should share their own knowledge because you never know who will be inspired and motivated to take things to the next level.