Ignorance may not always help you out
I woke up this morning with a random phrase in my mind. Today’s random thought happens to be the phrase - Ignorance is bliss.
I am looking at this from the perspective of worry. It is difficult to worry about an issue if you aren’t aware of it. It is difficult to worry about the rising cost of Uber rides if you don’t have Uber rides operating in your area. The situation I am most concerned about is being ignorant of things happening around you and you wilful distant yourself.
When I was growing up and chasing a career in IT, I use to be more focused on technical subjects, and this is common with most IT people. We walked around saying - I am not interested in politics. Truth is politics affects us all whether you are into it or not. Who gets elected into office will eventually make decisions that will affect everyone in a country whether you are voted or not.
In the political example, when decisions made by the leadership harms the business, economy and societal harmony, your ignorance of political affairs won’t save you. There is a loud cry on environmental issues from greenhouse gases, environmental pollution and fight for reduced discrimination in our societies, staying ignorant or aloof won’t save you. You may survive it, but what about your kids? What about your brother’s children?.
Another is being aware of health issues. Eating healthy, watching how much alcohol you have in a day or week. There is a saying that goes thus - obedience is better than sacrifice. The last point in life, you probably don’t want to get to is having to make the sacrifice to reverse an adverse condition. You don’t want to be forced to exercise when there is a health issue after several health warnings and advice.
Ignorance may not always save you from a particular predicament. So it is essential to seek knowledge and be generally aware of several topics in the world today. I have recently started by reading non-technical books just so I can broaden my somewhat narrow field of view of the world. Since I have learned over time, you can’t lead life solely on instinct or intuition.