By Ustaz Mark Bang
People don’t take pride in what is become obvious to them they don’t know.
Some care but many don’t some know more than themselves. Most learn what is needful to gain of knowledge that benefits a broadened understanding.
I am proud when I know what I know will be sufficient for my needs. I am frustrated when people know differently from the ways my understating is useful for me. People pride themselves in how much they might know more accordingly to how others do not know as much or as well.
Knowledge is gained by learning which broadens a person’s experience. One is introduced to something having no previous experience. To gain knowledge one must have opportunity, a capacity, and interest to learn as much as desired or needful. Persons range between having more and less knowledge than others. The understanding is superior or inferior depending on which one has more knowledge, and experience concerning subjects. The understanding lacks or is more complete depending on subjects under discussion.
Those who play musical instruments and those who don’t, are aware accordingly of each other’s ability and inability. It would appear people dislike not knowing as fully those more qualified in certain subjects. Such as are more knowledgeable are enviable but are to be admired in my view. Some have a talent to easily gain new knowledge through what appears to be a broader understanding. This is discouraging to believe one should be far more limited by comparison. This is damaging should this be one’s only measurement of misfortune owning to a lack of successfulness, and happiness.
Some people develop the habit as children for a variety of reasons. Perhaps it’s an innate personality trait to allow others to do things for them that they could learn to do themselves. Perhaps they are criticized for doing things wrong rather than encouraged for their efforts while they are learning.
Perhaps they learn that if they do some chore poorly they can escape having to do it again. Perhaps they haven’t ever faced the need to learn how to do certain things. If meals are always prepared for you it’s doubtful you would be as motivated to learn your way around the kitchen as someone who is expected to prepare their own meals would learn to do.
I’ve learned how to do many things out of necessity. Some people find it easier or are more comfortable asking others for assistance than figuring out how to do things themselves. If people can afford to it’s easier to hire a professional to do whatever needs to be done than to figure out how to do something yourself.
If the only way you can afford to cut the grass is to figure out how to use the lawnmower and weed wacker you’re probably going to work at figuring out how to use them. Some people persevere more than others who might give up easily.
Some people are taught that certain tasks are sex-specific. Taking out the trash or balancing the chequebook is a man’s job. Some people enjoy learning how to do new things more than others do. Many habits adults develop are based on how they observe their parents deal with situations. If mom or dad try to fix a leaky pipe or repair a toilet their children will be more inclined to attempt to fix those problems themselves rather than by calling a plumber or a landlord.
Everyone is different and overcoming fear is a real factor in learning something new. Observing children at a swimming pool or roller rink or learning to ride a bicycle reveals these differences clearly. Fear or terror of water interferes with the ability to physically relax enough to learn to swim. Some people get stuck in the fear stage and really can’t learn to swim.
Some children give up easily when they put on a pair of roller skates and fall down. Others get back up and keep trying. I’ve seen parents hold their children’s hands and encourage them to skate, and other parents who take the skates off the child after five minutes and buy the child a snack instead of encouraging them to keep trying. Some people never really learn or experience the pride in accomplishment you experience when you persevere.
One day at the local pool a group of around ten children were practicing diving with the help of one of the lifeguards. It was amazing watching how quickly they were able to do flips and somersaults. Two sisters who were at the pool every day were watching and I began encouraging them to learn to dive. The younger one was eager to practice but the elder one kept discouraging her and refused to try herself saying: “I tried that once and had a bad experience”.
The younger one made a half dozen attempts and had almost done a perfect dive when she, like her older sister, said: “I can’t do it” and gave up. Some people become comfortable saying “I can’t” instead of “I can”. Because to seek out education means to accept that you don’t know certain things. People tend to be very stubborn and stuck in their ways. It’s why it’s taken us so long to progress in many ways in Western society. Be it religion, politics, or something else entirely, people are quick to take sides and not be opened to possibly being wrong about stuff.
It’s much easier to double down even with clear evidence of being wrong. It’s such a cult-like groupthink mentality. And so many people who think they’re free of it tend to be the most affected by it. Politics is such a prime example of this, of both far-reaching sides accusing the other of things that both sides are guilty of. Not this isn’t to say the actual truth is as simple as looking in the middle.
It’s also a big issue when people judge history by today’s values. I saw that because it can lead to things like taking down statures of famous figures for not having the mindset that people do nowadays. Funny enough, people end up being doomed to repeat history because they so believe they have learned from it and couldn’t possibly make the same mistakes. People want the “perfect” morality and they want it now, be it via religion or politics. It’s like every generation thinks they’re the most enlighten and progressive one till the generation after that.
Having worked in a legal-related field for a couple of years, I can strongly relate to the cession of liability – there are things which are easier not to know, which means they are bad things. Being proud of having no such knowledge is easier on many levels.
If someone says, “I don’t know”, it is a simple admission of lack of information – or not being at liberty to share that information. If someone elaborates that they are happy they don’t know, it’s either a lazy or an ignorant person or a very smart person who wants to appear otherwise.
Some people are like that, and unless you know which one it is (naturally ignorant, deliberately ignorant, or very clever), you’re the one who’s lacking information about it, and you can’t make a proper assessment. If someone dismisses a request, motivating it, “Not my circus, not my monkeys” (not my problem) – then you know that it’s deliberate. Thanks for reading. Never hesitate to read the next part coming soon. “Public Staunchest Ally”.
The writer of this article is a Human Right Activist, writer and professional teacher.