What Do We Know?

“I do not know what I may appear to the world, but to myself, I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the seashore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered by me.” ~~ Sir Isaac Newton

We go through life learning more and more as we age and mature.  At 39, I am a much different person than I was at 20.  As a kid, I just needed to know how to get along with my buds and play video games.  In my teens, it was important to know how to manage a relationship with the buds and a significant other, what movies were coming out, what music was hitting, where my next $20 was coming from and whether or not we would have enough guys to play basketball on Saturdays.  Eventually, those focuses shifted to managing a career, living with a spouse and managing a household.  Now, the household has grown to 4 and I have to use all the knowledge I’ve attained over the years to simply survive the day.  

We are all self centered by nature.  I don’t necessarily mean that in a bad way.  Rather, it’s easy to get caught up in what’s going on in our own lives and walking obliviously through the rest of society as it faces its own struggles.  A lot of people live that way on purpose and I do from time to time.  There is tremendous value in focusing on yourself and your family and friends as I have talked about many times in this blog.  But in moments of solitude and quiet, my mind turns to what else may be out there.  Don’t worry, I’m not about to go on some paranormal or sci-fi trip.  I’ll keep it reasonable.  What I am doing though is trying to constantly challenge my way of thinking which I believe helps me adapt and continue learning.

The quote at the beginning of this post is spoken eloquently but speaks simply to me.  I don’t know how the world sees me.  Some see me as smart, some see me as a country bumpkin.  Some see kindness and some see selfishness.  Some see success and some see failure.  I don’t know what the overwhelming opinion is.  To me, I’m just floating along here in my bubble with my own goals, victories and discoveries.  Outside of my bubble though is a vast world that I will never fully see or understand.  Newton was likely referencing the vastness of space in comparison to what were important laws and theories he developed.  I find the underlying subject meaningful in another vein.  At the risk of sounding bleak, I’m pretty insignificant.  That is not the point of this post though.  No amount of success or good deeds will change the fact that is outlined in this premise.  The point of this post is to acknowledge and accept that there are in fact things I’ll never know and understand.  I’m ok with that.  Everybody should be.  What can hold people back from accepting it though is the quest to be the smartest person in the room and always be right.

Our lives are consumed with debate and being on the right side of issues.  It’s almost become comical watching the news channel side shows bring their commentators from both sides of an issue to argue for 5 minutes about which side is right.  They argue as if they are going to change each other’s minds or ours.  People share articles on Facebook that back up their side of arguments, whether they have done their own due diligence on what they are sharing or not.  I’ve been a victim before and it’s embarrassing but the vast majority of Facebook users have yet to realize that there are fake news sites that were created to provide stories for sharing and support of various issues.  Either the articles are vague, half-truths or fabricated altogether.  

At the risk of getting off on a whole other topic about our slacktivist society and our penchant for social media outrage, take a look at the current Target bathroom issue.  I’m not about to preach to one side or the other or even discuss my stance as I’m sure it won’t change anyone’s mind and will certainly be bigoted or unchristian to whoever I’ve aligned myself against.  What I’m going to share is what I see.  I have friends that are scattered all over the spectrum of race, religion and sexual preference.  What that means is I get to see examples of both sides of the issue.  I have seen logical and absurd support of the decision and I’ve seen logical and absurd opposition.  But what I don’t ever see is reasonable discussion between sides……on any issue.  That’s because we can’t see (or at least understand) life outside of our bubble.  The line is clear – if I’m ok with the decision, I’m obviously a left wing nutjob who longs for communism.  If I’m opposed, I’m obviously a lunatic, southern tea partier that hates all people not like me.  

My point?  Have your beliefs and convictions.  Practice what you preach.  But know that you are living in your little world inside a big one.  I don’t know what’s right outside of my belief system.  Even inside it, I struggle from time to time because I accept that society is changing and I wonder if my opinions should too.  When I was young, I remember thinking how nutty it was for older people to have their weird opinions on the race issue.  The fact is that they were raised during a time where the issue was prevalent.  Guess what?  Young people are looking at the older generation now and saying, “how can you possibly not accept me as different than you?”  The older generation says, “Easy, it’s not how I was raised and it’s not right.”  I can’t imagine what the next generational clash will be but history will repeat itself and the same people calling others close minded or bigots will be on the receiving end.  

I did get off on a tangent.  Think about the vastness of your city or county.  I go to stores in town (yes, Target too) and about 75% of the people I see are people I’ve never seen before.  Have you ever stopped to wonder how that is even possible?  Publix is less than a mile from my home and I see new people in their daily.  And yes, I’m there daily.  We could never comprehend the number of people and opinions that are floating around out there beyond our reach.  So why do we think ours is so important that it must be right?  Think about how self centered that really is.  We should all have our opinions, beliefs, convictions but they aren’t going to be molded for everybody else.  Hell, we can’t even agree on whether Pepsi or Coke is better.  I’m supposed to follow your lead on what people should and shouldn’t do with their own physiology?  Pass.  This is seriously not about the specific bathroom issue.  That is the current hot topic.  This is about our inability to accept that we are living within the confinement of our own existence which is unable to truly see beyond itself.  

We can’t change being unable to see beyond our barriers.  But we can accept that there is life outside of those barriers.  Real life.  I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again.  Believe what you want or what is best for your conscience/spirit.  Want to vote for Trump?  Want to be a woman dude?  Want to boycott Target?  Want to boycott Bruce Springsteen?  Want to be a Florida Gator fan?  Knock yourself out!!  I may not understand it but that’s not an overly unique position for me.  I don’t know what it’s like to live life in your shoes.  I don’t know what’s going on in your mind or heart.  I don’t know what keeps you up at night.  I can only try to deal with my own insomnia.  I’m learning everyday about my own seashore.  There are tons or rocks and seashells for me to explore and understand that keeps me busy.  Oh look, a sea turtle…..

J-Dub