Ebony's Pearls

Itzl in Garb in My Shelves
Originally uploaded by nodigio

They say ignorance is bliss. What they don't tell you is that the ignorant frquently die horrible deaths with very surprised looks on their faces after living a life filled with small and large betrayals, bewilderment, and with a low-level feeling of anger and frustration without ever knowing why bad things kept happening to them. Children can be blissfully ignorant, but they are so only because they have loving parents guarding them and guiding them through life's pitfalls - and those children must outgrow that ignorance (if not the blissfulness) if they expect to assume control of their own lives as they grow up. Those who are mentally disadvantaged or whom society assumes are mentally disadvantaged remain ignorant because they have guardians and protectors who carefully control the information the ignorant receive and limit their exposure to any event which might increase their knowledge - and these poor, swaddled people never get to direct their own lives, learn what they really love, never get to grow up, never get to decide anything of any real consequence in their lives. They are not blissfully ignorant, just deliberately kept ignorant. Much of society is realizing just how ignorant we've been kept by our elected employees - and we certainly weren't and aren't blissful about that! The frustrated angry ones are the ones who figured out they are being kept woefully ignorant but don't know how to change that - because they've been kept ignorant. So the adage that ignorance is bliss is only true in a very limited sense.

From growing up and managing your day-to-day life to surviving the Zombie Apocalypse, all knowledge is worth having. It's true that sometimes the knowledge can be devastating, but in the end, knowledge heals that pain. Knowledge is bliss. In knowing, we can make informed decisions that will help us lead full and happy lives, to help one another, to make the best of life's situations, to save time and grief and frustration. It is through knowledge that we create a world that is blissful, peaceful, prosperous, fulfilling, and riveting. Even trivia is worth having. Perhaps it will only help you win a game, perhaps it will save your life. The American Revolution story about the consequences that came about for the want of a nail could be a story about a lack of a seemingly small and insiginificant bit of knowledge.

Maybe you don't plan to be a rebel or a scientist. Maybe you'd rather be a plumber than an expert on some obscure poet like Torquato Tasso. Perhaps you think knowledge is for elistist people who earn millions of dollars a year from the power of their brains alone. What a skewed concept of knowledge we've built up in this society. Sure, Tasso is a poet who deserves more recognition and study, but guess what? Knowing how to fix a leaky faucet or unstop a toilet or replace cast iron drains is vitally essential knowledge in today's world, too. Knowing how to manage your income is just as important to the minimum wage earner as it is to the multi-billionaire. Knowing how to change a flat or being able to predict a solar flare that will cause electronic equipment failure are both important pieces of knowledge. I'm sure you can find lots of personal anecdotal evidence in your own life that demonstrates how a chance-got piece of knowledge made your life easier, saved you some embarrassment, or made you a hero in the eyes of a friend. You can't do that with ignorance.

There is no one book, no one guru, who can give you all the knowledge you need (or want) to have. Knowledge isn't acquired in any one special place. You don't need a college degree or seminar certification to be knowledgeable. Diplomas may be pretty, but sometimes all they indicate is that the person spent the time and money to get that diploma without ever absorbing the knowledge it might represent. I don't speak from sour grapes here - I have my share of diplomas and certifications. I also have my share of practical experience and knowledge that comes through observation, asking, doing, and being that come without formal education. It doesn't matter where or how you gain your knowledge, it's the knowledge itself that is valuable. Did you learn sourdough care at your father's side? That's useful knowledge. Did you learn to read a contract because you signed one in ignornace - and got burned for it? That's useful knowledge. Did you learn that even ashes can hide a glowing red coal to burn you because you poked what you thought was a dead fire and got burned? That's useful knowledge. You aren't going to get all your knowledge from any one place or any one event. It's an on-going process.

You have to start somewhere. I acquired my knowledge in many places and from many people - from my next door neighbor who taught me how to pat out tortillas and make burritoes for breakfast to the school teacher who showed me how to harvest asparagus from her garden (she paid me a nickel a week to weed it for her) to the wealthy matron who taught me how to socialize at a fundraiser to the college professor who inspired me to learn about my ancestors to the hundreds of people who taught me to read and write a variety of languages. Everywhere I go, there's knowledge just waiting to leap into my brain. Once cozied up in there, that knowledge makes friends with everything else I know and forms all kinds of fascinating connections. I don't formally teach, but I am an informal dispenser of knowledge and experience, offering opinions and information that may make your life happier, easier, more prosperous - and help you survive a variety of situations that would devastate the ignorant.

You are not among the ignorant - or you won't be for long, not after you decide to follow your true bliss and join the ranks of the knowledgeable.

Toss out the old adage of "ignorance is bliss" and embrace new ones in its place: "all knowledge is worth having" and "knowledge is life".