Ignorance Within, Ignorance Without
Yesterday I went to Smoothie King
âSo, Iâd like a immune system smoothie please. I mean I want something to strengthen my gut and digestion, what would be best?â
The boy behind the counter responded âWell we have the Immune boosting smoothie which is great for that.âÂ
âOkay, Iâll try that, Â but could I switch out some of the ingredients like the Raspberry Puree?â
âYes, of course we could do that for you, what would you like to switch it for?âÂ
He pointed down to the list of options, on the desk.Â
âOh yeah that makes it much easier. And do you have spinach?âÂ
âYeah, we have kale.â
âSo you have spinach?â I asked him a bit confused.
âYeah, theres Kale in the smoothie.â
âNo, but like do you have Spinach?â
âKaleâs a type of Spinach.â He responded.
I thought for a moment for it just didnât seem right, I preferred spinach in my smoothies at home because of the taste, he then proceeded to show me the box of Kale. âI guess thats fine.â I said, looking at the kale, it was moistened and cooked, probably better tasting than the raw stuff I use at home. So I got my smoothie and it was great.
But I thought about him telling me that Kale was a type of Spinach. I went home and researched it finding he was wrong. Kale is in the cruciferous family, along with Cabbage, while Spinach is a shrub, part of the Amaranthacea family with amaranthus.Â
It was a small error, he didnât know, nothing serious, but it got me think about myself.Â
My high school years were full of bullshitting. My essays were rushed and Iâd write them in attempts to get my word count up rather than to actually say something meaningful. This caused me to literally depend on the ignorance of my professors to get by, Iâd hope they wouldnât realize my redundancies (Im sure they did). But what I learned in school is what I applied to the outside world. As an American Iâve noticed this a lot, that people bullshit, I bullshit. Whether consciously or unconsciously I sometimes find myself saying  things that I don't really know for a fact are true, then depend on the ignorance of my peers to sound smart and intellectual.Â
Very rarely do people stand up for what they feel is the truth in our society, because standing up and speaking out against a person or ideology is inflammatory and usually frowned upon in our social system, as most conflict is. We as humans try very hard to avoid conflict, allowing bullshit artists and unhealthy ideologies  to slide and slither about. I am grateful for the boy at the smoothie king, because he helped me realize that I play a part in this too, and through his ignorance he allowed me an opportunity to understand my own. Iâm now being observant of whether or not Iâm bullshitting; saying some random  fact because I have trouble telling people I donât know things, or that Iâm still learning. Noticing when My pride swells. Humility, Iâm learning to admit to my ignorances, that there is nothing to prove. Nothings wrong with a Tyro.Â
âWhen we see men of worth, we should think of equalling them; when we see men of the contrary character, we should turn inwards and examine ourselves.â
