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 “To
know what you know and what you do not know, that is true
knowledge.” Confucious
How many times have we kicked ourselves for doing something stupid?
I’m very good at that trick. I’m my own worst critic.
As I was chastising myself, yet again, for doing something foolish,
I thought of the times it was great fun to be unaware.
When I was a kid, I loved Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, Dale Evans, The
Lone Ranger and all their cohorts. It never occurred to me to see
the fictitiousness of horse chases between the good guys and the bad
guys. I was not aware that a six shooter didn’t have 27 bullets in
it to be fired. I didn’t realize the shooter has to cock the gun
in-between each squeeze of the trigger. To be riding a speeding
horse, through prairie dog holes, rocks, and debris…..turned around
looking backwards, scared for your life, shooting a pistol like it’s
a machine gun is impossible. Being able to hit your enemy…. again,
with a revolver…. when they are half a mile behind you is equally
impossible. I feel rather silly now remembering all the cheering,
encouraging, and shouting I did to help those cowboys and cowgirls
through those dangerous situations. Yet it was a great delight to
not know and merely accept the entertainment.
I loved Thursday nights. My Mac and I would watch “Cosby” with the
kids, and it never failed to make us laugh, yet give us a moral to
think about. In a million years we would never have guessed what was
going on behind the scenes. The truth was a sucker punch to the
stomach.
“Not knowing what will happen makes life fun.” Akechi Mitsuhide,
Japanese samurai. I pray we can continue to remember that show for
what it was. I pray God gives justice to all involved.
Right after the “Cosby” show was “Simon and Simon”. How I loved
watching those brothers and their adventures. I always thought that
Rick (Gerald McRaney) looked a bit like my Mac. Mac encouraged my
fantasy throughout our years of avid fans. Eons later, we bought the
set of DVD’s on this TV series. They were so juvenile, pointless and
yet inane. Why did we anxiously wait for this show to come on and
then sit enthralled for an hour of our lives?
Yet I miss the mindless shows of yesteryear that let you forget the
struggles and problems of the real world and just let your mind
drift into meaningless relaxation. What made us demand programs be
so real that the plot and the acting leaves us drained, frightened,
or angry?
I hated “The Jackie Gleason” show during the 1950’s. His shouting
and threatening Alice frightened me. I would go hide while that show
was one. Don’t fool yourselves into thinking your little ones don’t
notice what is on your television.
I will forever wish the world was like “Cheers” and everyone knows
your name and will welcome you to come in and sit down with them.
I would be remiss not mentioning the press in this article. I would
be irresponsible to write my thoughts. That is my point. I don’t
care what your thoughts are. I want to know the facts. We, the
people, are not imprudent. Give us the data, the people, the actual
quotes and conditions and let us view the situations as they
develop. Why in the world do journalists think they need to tell us
what to think?
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“The central dilemma in journalism is that you don’t know what you
don’t know.” Bob Woodward.
The 25 years that Mac and I were in business, Mac loudly proclaimed
that God looks after idiots. Mark Twain is quoted as saying, “To
succeed in life, you need two things: ignorance and confidence.”
Perhaps both are correct and the oblivious proceed innocently into
the unknown to prove this point.
Ted Nugent, “Ignorance is indeed bliss, but it is also dangerous and
embarrassing.”
Just go back to 1938 broadcast of Orson Welles, “War of the Worlds.”
How many people believed it is truly not known, but certainly it
caused a lot of confusion and probably a bit of panic. We’d like to
say that couldn’t happen today, but I am amazed at the number of
people that are believing AI. If you see a couple of toddlers having
an animated, intellectual conversation, it is not real. I know their
lips are moving but babies cannot articulate in eloquent
conversations. Sheesh!
Having just stated that thought…. there is a lot of AI stuff out
there that makes one wonder. Googling Google is getting commonplace
with me and I don’t like it. Common sense is a good place to start,
but sometimes the more I research the more confused I become.
“Never argue with stupid people, they will drag you down to their
level and then beat you with experience.” Mark Twain. Suffice it to
say, question your beliefs and then when you can defend them with
facts……stick to your guns and your conviction.
James Green said, “John the Baptist was supposed to point the way to
the Christ. He was just the voice, not the Messiah. So, everybody’s
calling has dignity to it and God seems to know better than we do
what is in us that needs to be called forth.”
In other words, all people, all opinions, all views are worthy of
evaluation. Take the time and the effort to separate what is
defending or just sitting back and enjoying.
Some quotes are worth contemplating like, “You know, I’m pro-troops,
but I’m not pro-war.” Toby Keth. Or, “If you want to know who
controls you, look at who you are not allowed to criticize.”
Voltaire. Or, “To be humane, we must ever be ready to pronounce that
wise, ingenious and modest statement, ‘I do not know’.” Galileo
Galilei
And others are just to be enjoyed, such as, “If ignorance is bliss,
why isn’t the world happier?”
L. Maxine McQueen may be contacted at
maxmac.1@juno.com
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