My ignorance

Ignorance.  Typically, it's viewed with derision.  We shake our heads are ignorant people, say that ignorance of the law is no defense and patronizingly say that ignorance in bliss.  Ignorance can even be lethal.

Yet we are constantly surrounded by ignorance and in fact engage in things everyday with ignornace, blissful or otherwise.  The level of experience doesn't matter, the amount of education doesn't help:  If a person has no knowledge or experience of something, ignorance will typically win.

For example, if a person is confronted for the first time with a particular tool and has little or no experience with that tool, can that person be expected to know how to use it and use it properly?  Imagine, for example, that you have to repair a furnace or some plumbing.  Sure, you can spend however much it will cost to have a repairman do the work, but what if you worry that you'll be told the truth, or that the repair is otherwise cheap, so that you want to repair it yourself.  But where do you begin?  Sure, you can use online guides or books on the subject, but they're not always dispositive.  People are hardware stores might help, but they're in the business of selling their wares.  Besides that, they're not at the house so they can see the problems.  What tools should you use?  I'm not talking about hammers and wrenches and screwdrivers.  I'm talking about tools that are common for repairmen, necessary for certain tasks and largely unknown to the public at large.  Even assuming you find the right tool, how do you know how to use it properly?  More frustrating, how to you learn to use shortcuts that the repairmen know to make the tool work even more effectively?

Then there are the types of knownledge that you need to repair things like electrical outlets and plumbing.  Sure, you have to shut off the electric or the water prior to beginning the project, but then what?  How do you get outlets on the outside of the house to work?  How do you get that refrigerator to work in the garage without causing brownouts?  How do you make sure you have the right pipes for the repair of the toilet? 

Then there are computers.  If you're of a certain age and have never taken a computer course, how do you know all the little nuances of what you can do with the computer without deleting the hardrive?  Where do you learn the shortcuts to process documents more quickly?  Unfortunately, if one takes the time to read the instruction manual, either the person will lose at least a day of his life, come out with a huge headache or both, because the people who write those manuals already know how to use the machines and assume that everyone understands what they're saying.

If, like me, a person's spent a decade focusing on academics, having been told by his parents that he needed to have something to fall back on in the event of an economic downturn, and there was no opportunity to learn other skills relative to repairs or computer usage, the ignorance, especially when compared to the relative knowledge or intelligence, is shocking.  For the person engaged in the activity, it becomes beyond frustrating.  Having acquired proficiencies in so many different things and mastered different tasks, being unable to handle something that to many people is second-nature is downright depressing.  It calls into question one's competence.

Ignorance has many facets.  It can arise in the most surprising of places and with the most unexpected people. 

I hate my ignorance.

(c) 2012 The Truxton Spangler Chronicles