Knowledge

College has stuffed my head with knowledge, and still there is a whole world out there I don't understand.

I don't mean to belittle knowledge. That is not my aim. Learning of things like Dissociative Identity Disorder and Spencerian sonnets has brought weight and beauty into my life, has improved me as a human being. However, the benefits are not all-encompassing. Will knowledge of basic metal design, for example, coax me through the piercing confrontation with a loved one's fatal disease? Will the knowledge of binomial distribution hold my hand as I writhe and wail through childbirth? Will existential philosophy give me the couth to encounter an alcoholic overcoming addiction?

Don't get me wrong, there are some lessons learned in classrooms that transcend factual knowledge. Through my Creative Writing major, I have learned to savor the small moments, to hone my creativity, to find beauty in the mundane. Through my Psychology minor, I have learned to embrace diversity, to appreciate what life has given me, to relate to others with more understanding. Through my Religion minor, I have opened my mind and soul, re-evaluated what spirituality is and thus become more devoted to God and my fellow men.

What I mean to say is, though I consider myself to be intelligent, there is so much out there of which I know nothing. I don't know what it's like to not be educated. How does a simple mind work? Mine is far too crowded to know. How does a family deal with divorce? I have lived this only vicariously. What does it take to heal a broken heart? I can only speculate.

Such is life. We cannot know all. Not a single one of us can boast that accomplishment. So we should stop believing ourselves to be any better because we went to Accredited College or traveled the world or wrote a National Bestseller. These are things of which to be proud, not things used to elevate (and therefore separate) us. We should continue learning, and never believe ourselves to be above any lesson, even those taught to us by the smiling naivete of a child.