I just had to repost this from The Fickle Brain because I agree with it so much. I’ve always been addicted to learning, and can vouch for the fact that the more I learn, the less I feel I know. This has posed a problem when it comes to blogging, by the way, because in the glut of information that we all swim today, how can I possibly have anything worthy to add to the pile? It makes it very difficult to decide what to blog about, and feel that I’m not just taking up space with words that someone else, someone better qualified, could say in a much more erudite manner. Still dealing with that, but at least I’m able to pass along this post from The Fickle Brain
I’m really glad you related to the post. I see the attitude that some people take to so-called know-it-alls as a sort of bitterness towards ambition. Best to be curious, isn’t it, even if our appetite for learning is insatiable.
[smile] There’s a corollary issue to this one. It’s encountered when an ego-surfing session discovers one of your blog posts has been picked up by post-secondary educators. Now, some collection of words you wrote one night in the wee hours and posted, bleary-eyed and partially coherent, is now listed on course syllabi at major universities. One or more of those professors may even annotate their link to your post with kudos, suggesting your work is authoritative.
I suppose different writers will respond differently, but I felt a mixture of pride, humility, shock and anxiety. I hadn’t written the post with a scholarly audience in mind, and found the fact that it was being promoted that way to be rather daunting.
Your words *always* carry weight, for someone. Write responsibly.
I wish I knew which comment you were referring to but I can’t quite figure it out. In any case I completely agree – write responsibly, and ideally when not too bleary eyed or inebriated to make sense and be able to live with the consequences of putting your thoughts out there. Thanks for your thoughts.
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That was a great made at The Fickle Brain. I have so much to learn. No chance of becoming a know-it-all, and even if I did know it all, my memory is faulty so I wouldn’t remember it all!
I know Lynn. And like she said, the more you learn, the more you know you don’t know. Then add old age and memory loss to the pile and you never run out of things you don’t know!