The Foolish are Certain, While the Wise Have Doubts.
It’s not my quote, it actually belongs to a man who died before I was even born, although for a few days our hearts were beating on the same planet.
He’s someone who I have come to respect greatly, even though our opinions would probably vary, and doubtless if we were able to talk now, we’d stay up way too late night after night trying to solve the problems of the universe.
Because that’s how we find peace – through listening, through understanding, and through talking.
And we could use a lot of that right now in this country, because the listening has turned into ignoring, the understanding has mutated into hating, and the talking has changed into shouting.
As this virus burns its way through our communities, our families and our lives, it’s also burning through our kindness, our patience, our compassion and our connections.
So while we will hopefully survive the madness, it may we be a very different world that we emerge into.
A world full of people who are certain without education, and preaching without proof. People who use every event as a means to further their ambitions; without reference to truth, to proof or even to the benefit of the doubt.
Every number is a cudgel; every study is a sword. Without reference to anything other than their own egos, people have abandoned the pursuit of peace in favor of the accumulation of acrimony.
Although the virus sees us a one race of hosts, we seem destined to see ourselves as many different types of people.
There are those with whom we agree, and those with whom we argue. Those who support our side, and those who would sow division. Those who we believe without question, and those who will never be believed, despite answering a million questions.
In a time where we need to come together and find our way out of the darkness, we seem determined to shine our light directly in the eyes of anyone with whom we disagree.
And everyone who is shouting is so certain that they are right.
When in reality, and in the annals of history, we’re probably getting a lot of stuff wrong. The nature of time, and especially in circumstances like these, is that we’re always struggling to find answers in the midst of chaos, and desperate to make sense of that which often makes no sense at all.
Anyone who claims a certainty of truth is probably ignoring something, or making up something else.
In the absence of cold hard facts, we need to be able to rely on the good intentions of others.
Which also seems to be something that we’re running out of. From politicians to preachers, from Doctors to demagogues, everyone seems to be sharing the information that bolsters their opinion, and dismissing anything that conflicts with their beliefs. The level of certainty with which they shout would be comical, if it wasn’t for the fact that it is terrible.
Because in times like these, only the foolish are certain.
While the wise have many, many doubts.
— Dr. Alan Barnes
@maddrbmusings