Hot Topic: Knowledge and Ignorance

After very animatedly sharing a story about the rioting in Ferguson to my boyfriend and expressing my disapproval about gun violence in the US, he looked at me and said, "but what can you do?" I paused and was too embarrassed to hide behind an 'I don't know', but that's when I realized that knowing things or knowledge in general is lost amongst the youth merely because it doesn't personally matter to them. They think they can't do anything, when in reality it's not about how things apply to your life, but how you can apply that knowledge to your life. 

Let's get to it:

I often express my inability to comprehend people's ignorance. If you come across something unfamiliar, whether it be in a movie, a book, or a conversation, how could you not have the will to find out what it is? Why is it that some people are able to let knowledge go and consciously make a decision to push away information that might even be beneficial to them? It boggles me.

I have a handful of friends who fall under the aforementioned category. The problem is not that they don't have the mental capacity to digest information, but that they refuse to believe knowledge is worth much in their daily lives. If they are not faced with a problem that they have to personally deal with, then the crimes committed in Ferguson or the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is not applicable to them and thus should not litter the space in their minds. It's absurd to think that people aren't people unless you have met them.

It's this kind of ignorance that I absolutely cannot stand. If someone has the wherewithal to learn, then why wouldn't they? Although my boyfriend tried to explain that people are different and that they 'do not think they way we do', it still doesn't justify ignorance, does it? It doesn't matter whether or not news, scientific breakthroughs or even the passing of an innocent man thousands of miles away doesn't apply to you, because what's important is what you do with what you know, and there's a lot you can do.

Knowledge, if not used, passed down, or taught, is like having a bottle of liquid gold sitting in the corner of your room collecting dust. Knowing that Maryam Mirzakhani has become the first woman to receive a Fields Medal will not directly affect your life or mine, but it's little tidbits like these that accumulate to something big. It's connecting all the superficial dots from the information you have gathered to create an understanding of something deep.

But then again, what do you do with this knowledge? Many choose to ignore the news or even basic understanding of things simply because they believe it will not be useful in their daily lives. On the contrary, the accumulation of information from different fields will be useful in understanding history, the present, and the future. And isn't that what life is all about? Knowing things, making a difference, and passing down that knowledge and outlook on life to the next generation to create a better future?

What is there to life but to revel in it? What else can we do but to learn about what other people have to offer? We live in a time where knowledge is at our fingertips, and we should harness that power because the generations before us weren't as fortunate. There are 7 billion people alive today and around 108 billion who have ever lived. There is so much to learn and so many things to experience, it would be a shame to let it all go simply because, "it doesn't matter to me personally."

I am obsessed with knowledge the way many people are obsessed with video games, yet I have a long way to go. No one can know everything about the world, but the closer we are to it, the better we will be. Ignorance is bliss, but knowledge is power. We were all once annoying kids with a million questions to ask, because everyone has an innate hunger to learn and to know. But the older we get, the more we lose that spark of curiosity, and that's what's dangerous. Growing up kills many beautiful childish traits, but never let it kill the natural inquisitor in you. So submerge yourself in art, science, math, language, culture, archaeology, history, politics, what-have-you, because there is so much beauty and pain in them. The knowledge I have amassed is only an iota of what there is to know, but the prospect of learning excites me like a child.

"I'm hungry for knowledge. The whole thing is to learn every day, to get brighter and brighter. That's what this world is about. You look at someone like Gandhi, and he glowed. Martin Luther King glowed. Muhammad Ali glows. I think that's from being bright all the time, and trying to be brighter." -Jay-Z