Ignorance Within, Ignorance Without
Yesterday I went to Smoothie King
“So, I’d like a immune system smoothie please. I mean I want something to strengthen my gut and digestion, what would be best?”
The boy behind the counter responded “Well we have the Immune boosting smoothie which is great for that.”
“Okay, I’ll try that, but could I switch out some of the ingredients like the Raspberry Puree?”
“Yes, of course we could do that for you, what would you like to switch it for?”
He pointed down to the list of options, on the desk.
“Oh yeah that makes it much easier. And do you have spinach?”
“So you have spinach?” I asked him a bit confused.
“Yeah, theres Kale in the smoothie.”
“No, but like do you have Spinach?”
“Kale’s a type of Spinach.” He responded.
I thought for a moment for it just didn’t seem right, I preferred spinach in my smoothies at home because of the taste, he then proceeded to show me the box of Kale. “I guess thats fine.” I said, looking at the kale, it was moistened and cooked, probably better tasting than the raw stuff I use at home. So I got my smoothie and it was great.
But I thought about him telling me that Kale was a type of Spinach. I went home and researched it finding he was wrong. Kale is in the cruciferous family, along with Cabbage, while Spinach is a shrub, part of the Amaranthacea family with amaranthus.
It was a small error, he didn’t know, nothing serious, but it got me think about myself.
My high school years were full of bullshitting. My essays were rushed and I’d write them in attempts to get my word count up rather than to actually say something meaningful. This caused me to literally depend on the ignorance of my professors to get by, I’d hope they wouldn’t realize my redundancies (Im sure they did). But what I learned in school is what I applied to the outside world. As an American I’ve noticed this a lot, that people bullshit, I bullshit. Whether consciously or unconsciously I sometimes find myself saying things that I don't really know for a fact are true, then depend on the ignorance of my peers to sound smart and intellectual.
Very rarely do people stand up for what they feel is the truth in our society, because standing up and speaking out against a person or ideology is inflammatory and usually frowned upon in our social system, as most conflict is. We as humans try very hard to avoid conflict, allowing bullshit artists and unhealthy ideologies to slide and slither about. I am grateful for the boy at the smoothie king, because he helped me realize that I play a part in this too, and through his ignorance he allowed me an opportunity to understand my own. I’m now being observant of whether or not I’m bullshitting; saying some random fact because I have trouble telling people I don’t know things, or that I’m still learning. Noticing when My pride swells. Humility, I’m learning to admit to my ignorances, that there is nothing to prove. Nothings wrong with a Tyro.
“When we see men of worth, we should think of equalling them; when we see men of the contrary character, we should turn inwards and examine ourselves.”
