I Have No Idea

Before you can learn, you have to admit that you don’t know.

We live in a society where there are rules about what one is supposed to know by a certain age. Or in a certain environment. If you’re an educated individual, there are sets of information you’d better possess. What if you don’t know these crucial bits of data? Shame on you.

That’s what it’s all about: shame.

We, as a society, manage to shame people into hiding their lack of knowledge. If two people are in conversation and one is dropping names of political figures that the other hasn’t heard of, would the other person ask the speaker to clarify?

How often have we heard: “You know what that is, right?”

How often have we nodded along when we had no idea but felt too embarrassed to admit it.

The fact is it’s not the knowledgeable person’s fault, either. How’s she or he to know that you don’t know? If you act like you know and you act well, the other person will never feel the need to explain and they shouldn’t have to.

What we need to do is to remove the pressure of having to know. We need to teach that lack of knowledge is not a bad thing. Lack of willingness to learn, maybe. But not lack of knowledge.

I am often not afraid to admit what I don’t know. There are a million things I don’t know and I am really dying to learn. If I don’t tell people that I don’t know, they will never take the time to explain it to me and I will never learn. The fear of not getting the chance to learn is what motivates me to admit my lack of knowledge. Somehow I lack the necessary shame.

I don’t know why, but I certainly wish everyone did.

When we’re young, we’re not expected to know so it’s easy to ask. Sometimes people explain even before we ask. But somewhere along the line, we reach a point where expectations rise and we stop asking. Instead we learn to play along. To act like we know.

Which is why we will never actually know.

Previously? Color.