I was reminded today of a chat I've had with others here, about how difficult it can be difficult to carry knowledge well.
Knowledge ≠ wisdom, but it's so easy--if you've done plenty of deep dives into an historical theme, sifted through all the awful evidence yourself, or pored through the scientific studies--to react dismissively to someone raising a doubt or credulous belief in something you know flat-out is false.
It's *so easy* to forget the work that went into arriving at your truth.
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The other day I was sharing some of that deep historical knowledge with a friend of mine on the street, on an astronomy/atmosphere theme, when a fellow sitting near us wanted to feel included in the conversation.
So he ventured a question - do you believe that aliens have visited us - that I far too quickly dismissed.
Only after I'd given my initial reply, though, did I realize that he was trying to share an experience of wonder he'd had (which by the sounds of it was a weather balloon).
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But the risk of conflating "times to share knowledge" and "times to just be human together" is ever-present.
I find it best to think about my spheres of subject knowledge, and my voracious appetite for ongoing learning, as a *loss* in one pretty key way.
Every time I do a deep dive, I'm going on a solo journey through the data.
*Wisdom* comes from returning from that deep dive with the humility to realize that time away from others means I have a whole bunch of catch-up "peopling" to do next.
Anyway--
Long way of saying I can be a real numbnuts sometimes. 🙃
Any learning that estranges you from your fellow human beings isn't *finished* learning: not by a long shot.
@MLClark it's cool to kick yourself from time to time for a screw up.
It's also funny.
Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for reading! I'm glad my fool self amused. :)
When I realized the bid he was making, I switched gears immediately, and we made space for him to tell his story and feel included, but I'd definitely hurt his feelings with the way I'd answered the initial ask.
As such, I found a mediating way to reaffirm this fellow by shifting to a chat about how often people are left in the dark unfairly by government officials not explaining many of their normal tests and operations. That eased the blunder I'd made from a misapplication of knowledge.
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