Ignorance Is....

They say "ignorance is bliss". Well, I think ignorance is just....well, ignorant. I continue to be baffled as to why people don't care to know about other things or why they don't question what's happening around them. I don't know why this surprises me though. You'd think I would've learned and accepted the limitations of the human race by now. I guess I'm a secret optimist; I want to believe that people want to be better, that people don't want to just exist. Just because you're breathing doesn't mean you're alive right?

I was going over reading music notes with my friend today and we came across an eighth note. Now, I've always had trouble counting it out because it's "1 and, 2 and.." as one note. The 'and' messes me up. So, while going over the count I said "why?. Why do we have that?" She answered "because that's how the composer wrote it" and I said "why? who came up with it? We created music notes right? so why? why can't we just count it as 1,2,3,4,1,2,3,4. Why did we complicate it?"

I felt silly asking it because there's no answer. It just exists and that's what it is. That's how it is, and I need to accept it. I would like to know why though. Some people can't see beyond what's in front of them because,most of the time, people don't care. And that makes me sad. Like, for instance, when we travel we should try to learn about the people and culture we're invading. And what I've learned from my recent travels to Italy is that people don't care--they just exist and plop themselves down wherever. Some people think that everyone should speak English and eat the same foods they do, and that may not be YOU reading this (because you're wordly and observant and awesome) but a lot of people do think this way, and it's ignorant. And instead of accepting and learning about it they sneer at it and compare it to their country. And what saddened me is that a lot of the signs in Italy were in English and they listened to our crappy pop music--They conformed to our needs, they accomodated US instead of us trying to fit in and learn the language spoken where we were. Our American ignorance has infiltrated other lands and people are looking up to us and wanting to BE us. We may be a land that's large and loud filled with people and a multitude of technologies but I don't think we should be a role model for other countries.

We need to ask why more. And sometimes we should ask how. And all of the time, we should just ask. Because if we're not asking and not learning, then what the hell are we doing here? Maybe that's just me. Maybe some people are content with just existing, using up resources, aging and waiting for the reaper to come and take them wherever the hell it is we go.

The Road Less Travelled

How do we really know that we are on the right path? How do we know that our choices are correct? There's no way to check our work. There's no answer key. Are we in the right line of work? Did we marry the right person? Should we really have had kids when we did? We just live every day and take it as it comes. But if we have to deal with what we have and take it as it is, then how do we know that we should change? How do we know it's wrong if we can't check to see if the answer is right?

I don't like not knowing things and I don't like being surprised and unprepared. It makes me uneasy, so I guess, then life itself makes me uneasy. I've always stood firmly behind the idea that we learn from experiences (good or bad) and then we do it better but when it's not just about living, when you have to make an actual decision (go right or go left)no one can tell you if you're right. And, for someone like me who loves to check and recheck and operates with the idea that you are either right or wrong at all times, it's not exactly easy to make choices.

My friend recently said to me as we were having a conversation that I should just pick up and move to another city, like London since I'm such an Anglophile. When I said that I could never do that because I'm a worrier and don't like uncertainty, she seemed confused and said "you seem like the type of person who would just do something like that--Who's ballsy enough." I thought that night about what she said and although it seems like a good idea on paper since I don't really have anything tying me down here, I could never do it. It was interesting that she views me as someone who's brave and gutsy and able to run out into the unknown. Brave is not a word I would use to describe me. I'm a perfectionist, a worrier, a realist, bossy, observant, witty but not brave.

Then I thought: What if she's right? Sometimes people can see us better than we see ourselves and maybe I am braver than I think I am. Maybe I'm like Bilbo Baggins who lived on his quiet shire with his predictable life until Gandalf came along and taught him that he was brave and courageous and then he can't stop and yearns for adventure for the rest of his life(yeah, that parallel just happened). So, I've decided that I'm not going to be scared anymore. I am braver than I give myself credit for and I may just start jumping off some ledges this year.