" … mostly learning how much more I evidently have to learn."

I never liked being told what to do. I found the experience humiliating when I was five and still find it annoying sixty-some years later. I live by a double standard, though, as I catch myself telling others what I think they should do with stunning regularity. My friend Wayne stopped me near the middle of one of my tellings to ask me if I'd ever considered asking him if he wanted me to clue him in before I commenced to cluing. His question shut me up and served to render me a tiny bit more sensitive about how my tellings might affect my many targets.

While I can get carried away, I reason that I might find myself in reinforcing company, as society seems to have slipped into an Evangelistic phase. Colleagues as well as professional commentators seem ever-ready with quick advice. How they know what I need to know escapes me, but I easily recognize myself in their confidences. They might have struggled to learn what they consequently seem compelled to impart to me, and they thoughtfully consider gifting me with their reward. But I'm learning that absent that struggle, their reward, though doubtless well-deserved, rings rather hollow and unusable. The meme at the end seems banal without the effort expended to discover its personal utility.

Social media revels in sharing memes, some of which seem annoyingly self-evident and others, too obscure for me to long endure. Most go in one ear and out the other. The most compelling evidence that ours is, indeed, a Christian nation, lies in the obvious fact that everyone seems to be preaching at each other; every person an expert, everyone also a fool. A general rule might stand that it's usually better to keep yer yap shut tight lest everyone learn that you should have kept yer yap shut tight. I open my big yap anyway, undeterred by even my own proof of my own ineptitude. I well understand that I cannot command anyone to know, think, or do anything, but I persist. I sincerely think of my persistence as a gift.

Experts advise but only fools expect anyone to act upon that advice. Subject matter experts rarely seem very expert at sharing what they know, and though they might sincerely seek to improve another's experience, the means they employ might more easily offend others instead. I dread the blooming know-it-all posing a little above me. I also dread my own discoveries of what I never before expected. I feel bushwhacked when I learn, robbed of my innocence before ineptly demonstrating once again just how poorly I adapt my world view. This pandemic leaves me learning lots, but mostly learning how much more I evidently have to learn.

©2020 by David A. Schmaltz - all rights reserved

Tags: #WhatNow?, #PureSchmaltz