Learning from Freire can be a live-long endeavor, always adding humor, rigorous critical theory, and narrative. This article addresses the theoretical and cognitive ways in which Freire can be embraced. Moving far beyond banking education and fixed ideological notions of Freire's work, it is important to consider the tentative when reading and teaching Freire. Avoiding the creation of sentimentality, and dogma, we celebrate Freire's contributions by thoughtful understanding(s) of critical theory's critiques of power. Keeping the tentative allows us to add and subtract Freire's teachings and contextualize in multiple ways. Knowing Freire is not Freirean, it is knowing and understanding contributions without pedestalizing him.