Pet Peeve #2/3?

Knowledge is not knowing. Put the book down and listen.

First off, there is nothing wrong with being book smart, learning new skills, or anything of the kind. What's wrong, is assuming you know shit about the world, people, or deeper thought because you could out math me, out grammar me, or any number of things I chose not to sit down and devote loads of time to. Just because you acquire new tidbits of general information doesn't mean you are suddenly filled with all the knowledge of the world. There is, in fact, a difference between being smart and being understanding or possessing the capability to look beyond the surface of things. I could learn all the different forms for writing poetry, I could read a book about understanding poetry. That doesn't mean that I am going to be able to sit down and understand it. Now I know with poetry, as with many art forms, that it's really open to interpretation in the end. The point is that, knowing the book taught way to understand poetry doesn't mean that you are capable of sitting down and understanding it through your own abilities. If you can't sit down and feel the poem or understand it on an emotional level, well, frankly, you don't understand the poem, you devalue it's purpose.

Having knowledge does not mean that you are capable of deeper thought, sadly not everyone realizes this. I have been in multiple fights in my life trying to explain something only to be treated like I was the idiot, even though I have first hand experience with some of the subjects I am being told I am wrong about. There is more to the world than what is taught in a classroom or from word of mouth. You can learn the surface, you can learn the general facts, the stereotypes, but pulling actual knowledge out of something is when you try to understand it on a deeper level. When you live it. Interact with it. But most of all, know that you will never know anything completely about it. When you insist that you are right without consideration or thought to anyone else's experiences or views is when you get arrogance, not smarts. You've lost already, your mind is too limited.

"I know we're not saints or virgins or lunatics; we know all the lust and lavatory jokes, and most of the dirty people; we can catch buses and count change and cross roads and talk real sentences. But our innocence goes awfully deep, and our discreditable secret is that we don't know anything at all, and our horrid inner secret is that we don't care that we don't."

Via Dylan Thomas (Stolen from Batman)

Pet Peeve #1

Thanks for telling me what I was thinking, without you, I wouldn't know.

Finally a top pet peeve! This may or may not be my biggest pet peeve, but by golly it is second if not first. It's impossible to truly express how much shear rage in me this one causes. I haven't punched someone yet over it, but you can bet I was a hair width away from it. I can't even tell you how many times someone thinks they know what I'm thinking, or finds some god damn hidden message in something I say or do that I didn't even know about. Like in the P.S. I Love you movie when Gerard Butler's character says to Hilary Swank's character: "You mean the conversation thing. The one we're having and the one you think we're having." The reason this is so frustrating? Because half the time people really do see what they want to see and are very quick to think the worst of you, can't blame them too much, I mean they don't know what you're thinking so it's easier to create something up for themselves. I know I do it from time to time, but I recognize it and try to quit it. At least I don't run around telling people what they are thinking, because in reality, and I hate to admit this, I sadly do not have telepathy. I know you're heartbroken, I am too, I so wanted that ability. But my sadness over that fact aside, it is really frustrating to be asked a question, answer it, and then have the other person proceed to continue believing what they made up in their heads to cause them to ask the damn question in the first place! Am I being confusing? I'll use an example: So recently there was this rumor mill going down in my life that I said some things on the internet that were real nasty towards a specific person. I wasn't even asked if it was true or not, I was just told that was what I was doing. Go figure. Anyway, when asked if that was how I really thought about this certain person, I said 'no'. And I meant it, but I was met with sarcasm and that person continuing to think that I honestly thought negatively like that towards them even though I don't, and even though I said I don't. Or how about the amount of people that think I write these general blog posts entirely about them, choosing to ignore the message mind you, they ask me, I say no, and they continue to be defensive like secretly I am still thinking that about them. I know a lot of people would rather think the worst of me, but how about doing it for some facts rather than what cockamamie scheme you've cooked up about my person. I know I have done my fare share of actual less than nice things to pick at.

I am going to torture some more hypothetical characters here, in a ridiculous fashion mind you. So Bill, thinks that Mary doesn't care about anything or anyone because she simply stated she doesn't care about the news. He later spans this to think that if he died she wouldn't care. Seems extreme? Well, that is in fact how it works. Mary tells Bill she does care, but now that Bill decided to work himself up into a tiff that thought will always be there whether it's true or not. Flip side: Mary thinks Bill is being an idiot, however, perhaps Bill suffers from emotional trauma brought on by his father once trying to kill him and telling him no one would care if he disappeared, so now he thinks it's true and takes it to extremes Mary will never understand because she has never had that happen to her, sure she has her own issues but because her daddy never did something like that to her she isn't going to understand why Bill would think that of her. This may be more in poor Mary's sympathy court, but the point is that no one can read the others mind to know any different, nor live the others life to understand better the situation that would lead someone to think a certain way.

The human mind is far more complex than it's given credit for. There are a lot of thoughts and experiences behind what we do and how we cope as people that you will never begin to touch the surface of. Ever. Hell, there are subconscious reasons people do things that not even they are aware of! How much of an arrogant all-knowing delusion do you have to think you know? Why don't we all just walk around have you tell us what we said, what we did, and what we are thinking? Everything would be so much more easily understood if we were like the borg and all thought the same way and along the same lines. But we don't. We wouldn't be individuals if that was the case. You wont know nor understand a persons thoughts unless you lived their life and their experiences. And I've personally had it up to the ceiling of the Burj Dubai of trying to get people to understand. Realization: They wont but they will whole heartedly think they do.

Unless you are telepathic, stop thinking you have a clue what really goes on in someone's head, if you are telepathic, stop raping our brains... Xavier...

"Leave All Your Love And Your Longing Behind... If You Want To Survive.