- I'm busy and don't have the time to give you an answer.
- You are not 5 years old. I don't have the energy nor do I want to use the energy to explain something to you in a way that you can understand. It's very tiring sometimes. And I trust that you're smart enough to find the meaning in things for yourself just like anyone else; you're just being lazy.
- I want you to learn to ask your own questions and seek your own answers. You have the first part down pat....let's work on the second half of that equation.
Before you call me a jerk ("I know."), please understand that I was raised this way. I was allowed and encouraged to pick up a book (pre-Google days) and read to find my own answers to my questions. My parents and teachers knew and understood that whatever was in said book could explain it better than they ever could; not because they were dumb, but because it forced me to rely on my OWN interpretation of facts rather than theirs. It made me feel empowered that I was capable of learning independently; and I enjoyed doing it. Probably the best tangible gift I ever received when I was younger was the full set of Encyclopedia Britannica that my grandmother bought for us. Between that and the dictionary, I learned at an early age that knowledge was right at my fingertips and I didn't have to depend on someone else as a source for it.
I fail to understand why, in the "Information Age", so many of us are NOT informed and are happy with that fact. It kills me to witness people who are fully aware of their ignorance, but have no desire to transcend. Get out of your own way! Literally, ANYTHING you want to know is probably 10 seconds away (depending on how fast you type). If that isn't convenience, I don't know what is. But honestly I believe that is the problem; it's a little too convenient. Having everything within arms reach has made us so lazy that we don't even care to utilize it because we don't really have to work for it. We are free to learn, think, and understand for ourselves like never before. Thus, the value of knowledge has decreased for many.
If you are over 20 and still saying things like...
"Favorite book? I don't read.....other than [insert rudimentary magazine here]. I'm 'bout my money!"
"I don't read/watch the news....nothing on there affects me or has anything to do with me."
"Political views: Apathetic"
....you should really re-evaluate your existence. What are you doing in life, besides going through the motions, if you have no thirst for knowledge to better yourself and those around you? "Apathetic" is not a political party or a point of view....it's the absence of both. It means you either know and don't care, or you don't know and don't care (the worse probably being the former). But suddenly you want to get upset when certain political decisions start to visibly affect your life....
Still think nothing in the news is for you?
We aren't in 6th grade anymore...we can't afford to not care.
The world is too big for us to remain content in our little rooms with no windows or doors, thinking that's all there is for us. Free yourself...
*steps off soapbox*
