on self education

The modus operandi of many Americans I meet seems to be one of prideful ignorance. Rather than keeping their mouths shut on topics about which they know nothing, they will loudly proclaim their lack of knowledge and attempt to reduce their self-inflicted embarrassment by making eye contact with everyone present while laughing too hard and for too long. On the one hand, this destroys the flow of conversation amongst people-in-the-know; on the other hand, though, in some cases the ignorant party can learn something so that next time he might be a bit less clueless. (I believe that the 24-hour news cycle and its endless array of body-less blabbermouths has helped to convince people in this society that constant talking is a good thing; it is not, as it all too often keeps the mind from figuring things out, on its own, in peaceful contemplation.)

And yet here I sit, in this cold but sunny room, contributing to society's messiness by lamenting the fact that other people lament their lack of knowledge. What a confused mind I have, and what a high horse I ride. No amount of writing or blogging will change peoples' behavior; they do what they think is best for themselves because that is what everyone else is doing and if they don't, they feel like they might be missing out. And what, really, is the harm in someone voicing their curiosity and showing interest in things foreign to them, and strange? Perhaps they do it to stroke the egos of the people who have already taken the time to educate themselves about topics not directly related to their daily doings.

A few days ago, some graffiti came through on the tumblrbot, an image of a saying sprayed neatly onto a wall, which was: silence is better than bullshit. This is a simple yet powerful lesson. Over the last few months, I have attempted often to stick to this rule, only to fail in my effort to mind my own affairs when asked by other people what it is I do for a living, how my siblings are, or why I tie one of my pants-legs back with an reflective elastic cuff. Sometimes, I manage to keep quiet, but other times I let the words flow only to find myself saying more than I wanted to say and wishing that I were not expected to reveal the details of my personal business. In contemporary American society, individuals who sit quietly while in the company of others, who avoid constantly spilling their guts or gleefully joining in the boorish fun of tearing apart anything that anyone else says or does or implies, these persons are viewed as strange; they are soon avoided, mocked, and ostracized; they are, however, the very individuals who understand the crucial importance of inner peace and spiritual contentedness, who are continuously jettisoning extraneous belongings, feelings of honor or pride, and letting go of the last vestiges of this passings world. With that, I shall, for now, merge back into silence, and cease with this bullshit. Mahalo.

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