I know nothing.
I started out this morning trying to learn more about fiat currency. There was a time when gold backed the U.S. dollar and all the other currencies, too. But this hasn’t been the case for quite some time. While I made certain strides, I am nowhere near understanding the intricacies of this topic. As far as Bitcoin goes, I have no comprehension of its relevance to anything. With all of that said, I am, at this moment, completely doubting the well-being of the fiscal sanity of any place on this planet. Save for the possibility of the places that still trade a loaf of bread for a candle and some thread. I know nothing.
Yesterday, I watched the movie Judy. I had put it off for a long time for two reasons. The first? I’m not crazy about Renee Zellweger. The second, is I AM a big fan of Judy Garland, but from the trailers, I could see this movie focused on the last, dismal years of her life.
I’m glad I watched this. To Zellweger’s credit, I did not see her once. I only saw Judy Garland. Her Oscar-winning performance was merited. I can see this now. And, I had no idea, whatsoever, about the dark place where Judy Garland lived — during her entire life. I kept grabbing my laptop as I watched, looking up different details of her life.
Judy Garland had such a magical talent. And as a result of that gift and the circumstance surrounding her childhood, her life was transformed into a miserable existence. I didn’t know.
I know nothing, after all.
Almost everyone knows the blue whale is the biggest animal on the planet. So big. She weighs about 198 tons, and is 98 feet long. Her tongue, just her tongue, can weigh as much as an elephant and her heart as much as a car. Imagine this enormity. Yet, all she eats is a bunch of little tiny plankton.
But a lot of us don’t know the second largest animal on the planet. It is a squid. It’s called a colossal squid. There is speculation they can grow to 60 feet. However, the largest squid documented was 45 feet long. They have the largest eyes in the animal kingdom. Big eyes, all the better to watch you with, reaching 10 inches in diameter!
I know nothing.
Socrates, so long ago, said, “I know that I know nothing.”
A wise guy, that Socrates. Yet. A lot of good comes from not knowing. It brings exploration and learning, if we let it. And once we do learn about things, oftentimes, this only brings us to that greater awareness that this world may not be what we think it is after all.
It is the beauty of infinity and the unknown. And we are a part of it. Us. And those squids.
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“It is not that I’m so smart. But I stay with the questions much longer.”
― Albert Einstein
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“For the things we have to learn before we can do them, we learn by doing them.”
― Aristotle
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“The world, even the smallest parts of it, is filled with things you don’t know.”
― Sherman Alexie, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
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Judy and the big squid eyes. You know.
