The hard way or no way

A friend of mine was yappin' to me about her tendancy to get involved in crappy relationships despite warnings from her friends and family alike. Of course these relationships would eventually blow up in her face and she lamented how it seems the hard way is the only way she is capable of learning anything in this arena.

Isn't that true for everyone? Personally I think the only way a person truly learns something is enduring the harsh lessons of life first hand. You aren't going to learn much by relying on pure word of mouth.
For example, you can tell a little kid about the dangers of fire a billion times, but until the little brat actually gets burned they aren't going to fully comprehend what the hell you're talking about. I gaurantee the little crumb snatcher isn't going to mess with fire again (unless they're incredibly retarded).

The same can be said about relationships. You're never going to convince someone that their significant other is no good for them until they get fucked over a few times. Unlike the fire scenario though, sometimes it takes more than one time to get the message, but eventually they do (unless they're completely useless retards as well).

After telling this to her, she said I made a very good point... well not shit.