Ignorance...

"A little learning is a dangerous thing, but a lot of ignorance is just as bad." - Bob Edwards

Was out for a walk yesterday around noontime. I had walked all the way from downtown to my old high school (which is about 1.5mi) enjoying the sunshine and the warmth. It was time for the kids to head back to class as I passed groups of kids walking toward the school. I was crossing the street across from a group of guys, they were smiling and laughing while looking in my direction. I passed them and one of them said, "Hey there big fella", with the rest of the guys giggling like little school girls.

I acted like I didn't hear it and kept walking. Ignorance. I could have turned around and mentioned something to the effect that I am now actually half the man I once was. But it would have been lost on these kids. Sometimes I tend to believe Ron White when he says, "You can't fix stupid," but I was like those kids growing up.

We used to tease this one old guy that rode around on a rusted bike with the side baskets on the back, the ones that looked like wire saddlebags. Everytime we saw him we would shout out, "Hey Marvin Levineeeee!!!!!!!" Had no idea what the guy's name was, one of my friends just came up with the name. Everytime we would see him, we would shout that out. He would act all disgusted and shout back, "That's not my name!!!!!" Turned out the guy lived at a halfway house (or group home) and would travel around all day on his bike looking for returnables to get money for smokes.

Even as we get older we tend to get snarky or make snide comments about someone that is different from us or has something we envy. Reminds me of that car commercial where the little girl gets into the back of her mom's SUV after a birthday party and asks, "What does spoiled mean?" and the mom says, "Who called you that?" to which the little girl replied, "Nobody - they were calling you that." Or something to that effect.

Words hurt. Be careful how you use them...

"A great deal of intelligence can be invested in ignorance." Saul Bellow


Matty
www.iweighedmorethanjared.com