Fighting to learn

Learning things is hard. It takes time and resources, not to mention will. The older I get the harder it is. I think that's true for every body. I just read a blog post from Ethan Vizitei and I couldn't agree more with what he said. I don't know. This is something that was bothering me for a long time. See I'm a learner. I like to learn, I want to learn. I want to better my self.
I've been doing it since I was a boy. Learning to program, learning to write, learning a new trade or skill. Always learning, always being a target of those who do not. I had a rough child hood. My learning separated my from my peers. People do not like those who separate them selves from the mold. I knew things , I wanted to know things and people reacted violently when I showed my knowledge. Verbally and physically.
Bastards.
When I grew older and bigger, when I started lifting weights people stopped being physical with me . I moved away, started working in the industry and baam. They still were there, those who refuse to learn.
Its OK, that's their decision. I accept that. But the sheer amount of energy those people used to deter others from learning and introduce new things is amazing. I just always kept finding my place in knowing what others didn't (not something unusual per se) for the sheer fact I willed my self to explore and learn those things. How can anyone evolve as a software developer if not by constantly learning new things?
It's just tiresome talking with those people. Explaining things to them, listening to their half baked rationale why things should remain the same. It is so hard, it is so depressing and so fruitless. You can change people, you just cant... But refusing to learn, refusing evolve is not something I will settle for.