Knocking On The Noggin

Ignorance is the root of all evil and misconception is its reflection.

Marty Brandel
(Thank you Marty)
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"This boy is Ignorance. This girl is Want. Beware them both, and all of their degree, but most of all beware this boy," Charles Dickens

Where ignorance is bliss, 'Tis folly to be wise. Thomas Gray
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If you're looking for bliss, don't look for it in ignorance. While I don't want to fill my mind with the puss of evil thoughts, it is only wise to know that evil is out there and usually as a result of it being believed in and practiced by some ignorant people.

We have all seen the results of such ignorant behavior. A man will kill another man or do damage to his property because he ignorantly believes he has a right to revenge himself. A woman took a chain saw and cut down a neighbor's tree because it was blocking her view. I read about a man who humiliated his son in the ignorant belief it would teach his son humility. A woman caused a traffic jam because she stopped in an intersection to clean the snow off her windows. Men in blue suits and briefcases go through revolving doors and stop, oblivious of the people behind them. I've seen it happen many times. Other people get to the top or the bottom of an escalator and stop. One can only shake one's head in disbelief over what we humans do.

I made a major move one year to Washington DC. I arrived at my new address with a van full of my belongings at 7:30 Sunday morning. I parked the van on the side of the road and started taking my stuff into my new apartment. A cop came along and told me to move the van, When I asked him why he said that any moment the rush hour traffic would be coming down that road and I would be in the way of it. I told him I chose Sunday morning because I didn't think there would be a rush hour. He gulped. He was caught in has own ignorance. He made me move the van anyway. So I unloaded all of my belongings onto the side walk and put the van in a parking lot. When I returned my belongings were still all there, thankfully. He wasn't.

But Marty also talks about misconception. "I don't know" is a legitimate answer to any question if it's the right answer. Some people seem incapable of saying it, which can cause a lot of serious trouble. The dealings I recently had with the tech support people over my computer problems are a perfect example. I eventually spent well over 40 hours on the telephone, punching this, clicking on that, on the floor unplugging and plugging, straining to understand a difficult accent, when a simple "I don't know" would have gotten me to the person who did know a whole lot sooner. But what was worse was that one of the experts who wouldn't admit to his ignorance forced a totally unnecessary solution on me that destroyed a lot of my files. I am trying not to resent that

We are all ignorant of many things. It is good and proper to know what we know, but it is also only just and kind to know what we don't know and to admit it.

Ignorance is not bliss. Wisdom is not folly.

DB - The Vagabond (teaching my old elves new tricks)
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Come on, folks we need a question for the Winter Quiz, How about it? If you don't come up with one I may have to invent one myself , And you know what happens when I do that.

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