"In the pursuit of virtue, don't be afraid to overtake your teacher."
"Young people should not be taken lightly. How do you know that they will not one day be better than you are now?"

--Confucius

"True poets are only the interpreters of the Gods."

-- Socrates

You laugh because I'm different, I laugh because you're the same.


Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Ignorance


Author's Note:
This is an essay about how everyone alive is ignorant to some extent.

How would you define ignorance? Would it be being naive, being arrogant, or having down-right stupidity?  Every day we see people we never even knew existed; they drive down streets, talk on pay-phones, and at some point, they are going to endure their ways into our lives.  But how much about other people or places do we really care about?  Our immediate lack of knowledge, and no further pursuit to gain knowledge, is a mistake that we are burdened  to live with: this is our ignorance.  Every human being alive is burdened with ignorance to some extent, no matter who you are, what you are, or however old you are. 

What would be your immediate reaction to an uncleanly, hooded African American walking down a busy street?   As much as we do not want to admit it, we think negatively about the subject, and do not wish to look further.  Maybe the man lost his job, therefore lost his home and has been unable to bathe for a week--our minds' inability to comprehend this at first sight is considered ignorance.  We want easy. We don't want questions, because questions lead to answers that need more questions. 

Certain people are allowed to not have to answer these questions, such as parents.  A parent has the gift of permitted ignorance.  They do not always want to hear that there twelve year old daughter has a boyfriend, they do not want to hear that their child failed a math test, and they definitely do not want to hear their child's opinion.  Ever.  Their ignorance is accepted in our current society, but is still ignorance none the less.

The worst type of ignorance is sheer stupidity.  Someone who does not know something, and has no desire to learn it.  "Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity."  This quote, by Martin Luther King Jr., illustrates how hazardous stupidity can be.  The lowest minded people, the ones who will not open their minds up to suggestion and knowledge are the ones who frighten our world with unplanned ideas and overzealous thought of structure.   If our world was built off of lower minded people, we would be unable to grow off of mistakes, and learn from our past.  Stupidity is the worst kind of ignorance because not knowing is one thing, but not choosing to learn is a flat out mistake.

Ignorance.  How would you define it? Think: would you be able to be labeled with this title?  Every human being is, to an extent, ignorant.  No matter where you started or ended, grew up or grew old, we are ignorant.

No comments:

Post a Comment