This might be a #FirstCoffeeThoughts post but I really only want to say something briefly about it.

You can't know everything.
Not everything was taught in school.

The only way to know is to ask or to find out and I think we are so used to just existing in the world and taking things for granted that we simply stop asking questions and stop being curious or even surprised.

I love this post that I saw this morning but the comment section was so ... so ... so foul and mean.

1/

There are times when things occur to me that I didn't even realize that I didn't know ... and I'm legit kind of fascinated. I love that those moments can still happen ...

Just because you don't know something, doesn't mean you're stupid.

I wrote an essay decades ago about one time I had a sudden realization that I didn't know something and it resulted in one of the worst switch whippings I ever got ... bleeding, welts and all ...

2/

My father asked me if I washed my hands and I had said yes ... and he said "Did you use soap" and I started to say yes and then I asked ... "What is it in soap that makes your hands clean?" ... and honestly I got hit so hard, so fast, it knocked me off my feet and I proceeded to get mauled.

The following Monday (it was a weekend), I asked my 4th grade teacher the same question and it prompted her to create a lesson and she helped me write a letter to Proctor and Gamble about Ivory soap.

3/

I don't remember how long it took them to respond, but they wrote back and she brought the letter in class and they wrote this elementary school level explanation about how soap is made and the ingredients in it that break down dirt. They even sent samples that we put in the bathrooms.

It was really fascinating and I have, obviously, never forgotten that lesson. This is how people learn things ... when they are taken seriously, when you explain in a way they can understand.

4/

It's kind of like that saying ... that people don't hate math ... they hate being embarrassed by not understanding math, they hate being made to feel stupid when they struggle with math .... it's not the math, it's the humiliating, sometimes abusive, sometimes traumatizing way that STEM is often taught at early levels. If you don't understand it, you're stupid ...

This is why learning isn't fun for a lot of people. This is why people aren't curious.

The amount of abuse and hate and name calling and "Americans are so stupid" comments that filled up the comment section of that post were absolutely appalling to read ... and it took me forever to even find someone that was willing to take the time to offer the actual scientific explanation for it ... but it was buried beneath all these comments calling this man all kinds of names and making him even feel bad for asking ...

People who treat people that way are trash.

I had SO many questions as a child. I was SO curious about so many things growing up. I had a TON of interests but NONE of those interests were things that were encouraged. My parents were angry that my interests were in things that were "for white people" and we mad that I didn't take an interest in traditionally "Black" activities or that I didn't like traditionally "Black" foods. Almost everything I learned came from blue collar white people who were willing to share their knowledge with me.

I see often Black people saying we need to get my Black people in STEM and stuff like that ... which is true ... but I wonder how much of that stuff is even encouraged or celebrated in Black families. When you live in a household that belittles you for being curious about science or when you are surrounded by people that want to downplay the importance of math and science ... how do you expect to foster that kind of curiosity and passion? When people put you down for asking questions ...

Call it a trigger I suppose.

When I see people putting people down for asking legit questions ... I just really think those people are a plague on this Earth.

Anyone that squashes curiosity and discourages learning is just evil in my book.