You don't know it all till you don't know anything!

This blog originally posted Friday, October 20, 2006

Current mood: amused Category: Life

So I'm back in college at 34. I find it very funny to see the young 18 - 22 year old guys get all worked up about their points of view. They are uber-confident and all-consuming in their arrogant belief that they have the only correct point of view on any given topic.

I feel that I am qualified to explain this to you as I once was like you. When in college the first time, I held my views strongly and wasn't afraid to broadcast them to anyone who I felt might not agree because they were obviously wrong and needed firm correction. With time, experience, and more than a few hard knocks, I have learned how things really work.

So here goes:

If you are under 25 years of age and are completely confident in your point of view, let me educate you: You don't know anything at all. You don't even know enough to know what you do not know.

Confusing? I hope so. You disagree with me? I expected that.

If you are lucky and even the least bit teachable, life will knock off a few of those sharp edges and teach you that you have a lot to really learn. If not, the you will end up one of those bitter old men who are divisive about every subject and no one really likes to be around you.

The truth is that almost every major topic you will argue in school will have scholars on both sides with great arguments. Further, most of these will have little or no application in the real world. Discussion of concepts, wrestling with ideas, struggling with conflicting points-of-view - all of this is good to do in school. Just don't forget to open your eyes and mind, consider that the other side just might be right (or, amazingly enough, you both just might be wrong!).

Have respect for your professors and elders. Don't assume that just because you see problems in the world that the older generation is entirely at fault, either. Sure they made mistakes. But, if you listen carefully, you just might here the sound of the baby being born who will grow up and, in 20 years tell you all of the things your generation has done wrong.

Learn humility. Listen to both sides. Research. Study. Learn. Experience.

Just don't cast your opinions or ideas in stone until they've been tested in the burning foundry of real life and quenched in the messy waters of real humanity. Long has our world suffered from heartless piety and cruel arrogance of men whose belief systems become more important than the very people they were supposed to help.

Ideas are not God. You can hold true to your values while still learning with an open mind.
Of course... These may just be the ramblings of an uneducated man who holds his beliefs too closely. Maybe I'll change my mind in my 40s, 50s, or 60s.

I just wish I still knew it all. Life was easier then.


P.S. - If you are one of those 20 year old guys and you disagree with this, call me in 10 years. We'll have a laugh together as we watch a new crop of 20 year olds tell us how wrong we are.