What You Don't Know

(Image Credit: theseminal.com)


Of course, the problem (or great thing, depending on your mood) about learning is that once you begin to learn about something, you realize just how much more there is to learn. Now that my curiosity about Pakistan has piqued, I've begun asking myself more questions. I've also had the pleasure of attending an exhibit recently that outlined the history of the civil rights era (which is not uncommon in the US as we gear up for Jan and Feb). In thinking about those times, I began to think about the philosophers who influenced Dr. King. Ghandi in particular. And I want to know more about others who participated in SNCC and the SLC. There are women civil rights leaders beyond Rosa Parks that I'd never even heard of, like Fannie Lou Hamer.

The idea did occur to me to begin to specialize my interests, to think about one or two issues or categories and focus from there. I've decided not to do that just yet, however. Because there is so much, I think it wise to just take the first few weeks, if not the first few months, to just explore things as they arise. Then once I see a trend, I'll embrace it.

One of the things that has also been on my mind is how I'll ever find the time to read everything. Or how I'll find the money to travel. Or where I might go to experience some of the finer things.

In the meantime, I'm reading a very intellectual book that I began a while before I set up this challenge: The Devil Wears Prada. I've got to get through that one first. I'm on chapter 9. One of the things I'm discovering as read this book is that Andrea (so far) has had very little interaction with Miranda, and yet she fears her based not on what she has come to know as the truth, but based on what others tell her. Who wouldn't be intimidated by someone who you've been told is one of the meanest, coldest b's in the workplace. She doesn't have to say a word to get power. Everyone has already just handed it to her.

That is why this book rings so universally for so many people. It's the reason why it's a bestseller. More than once, each of us has fallen prey to hype or hearsay. We get scared because someone else tells us something, and immediately it affects the way conduct ourselves. And that little tidbit is important. If I'm going to read about things and experience things to broaden my knowledge about the world, I must be ready to grapple with it, to challenge it. The easiest thing to do is to read and believe blindly, but it is another to read, question, and truly understand.