If we look back at all the stuff we think we know –– all the knowledge we've accumulated over the years –– how much of it is stuff we know for a fact, and how much is just assumptions we've made that have taken on the appearance of facts over the years?
I am coming to the conclusion that most of what I thought I knew isn't knowledge. It's assumptions, conclusions, prejudices and other misinformation disguised as the real thing. As often as not, probably, I put the disguise on it myself.
And a lot of what I know, though true, has no value. The amount of trivia in my brain probably outweighs the useful information by far.
I remember my parents, and even moreso my grandparents (three of whom were teachers), encouraging to 'use my brain.' They always felt I was not applying myself. But in spite of not applying myself, I have absorbed a treasure trove of dubious information, and my retention of it has become an unfortunate source of pride for me. Intelligence was always my strongest attribute, and I tried without much success to use it to offset my shortcomings in other areas.
I thought for a long time that if there were any one attribute I could have, in fact, it would be intelligence. Intelligence is what sets us apart from other animals, right? And yet there are people smarter than me who labor in poverty and obscurity, and functionally illiterate professional athletes making literally a thousand times my salary.
And then there's our President, who is a whole 'nother story.
That's in part a symptom of a culture that has come to lionize ignorance, and since 2000, plain old stupidity, but part of it is also because intelligence is frankly overrated by those who are intelligent. I am persuaded now that there is nothing inherently more valuable in intellect compared to, for example, the ability to easily throw an accurate 90-yard pass.
I should have ignored my grandparents and focused on being an outlaw biker or something.
Most of the cats are in this morning, including the neighbors' cats left out in the cold, and they are restless. It's still 33 degrees outside, with a high today around 55.
I did wake up at the usual predawn hour, but I didn't want to get out of bed.
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