A few answers that probably come to mind are ‘school / college / whatchumacalit those four walls in which tutoring is administered / on the streets / self-taught’. Lately I’ve been wondering how exactly I’ve been able to speak my tribal language. I don’t remember being sat in a class to be taught how to construct sentences, or identify what a word means based on the tonal inflections…but I do remember being around people who spoke the language, and here I am, a fluent speaker. So…osmosis then? Hold that thought…
Scenario A: A while ago, I was working with a group of people and it had gotten quite late so we decided to order dinner. We got sushi and when the food arrived, as a practical hungry person who didn’t know how to use chopsticks, I proceeded to use a single chopstick as a skewer / fork to eat. When the people around me noticed, a few of them laughed at me, but a (no-longer-)hungry person is (not) an angry person.
Scenario B: A few weeks later, my friend and I met up at a restaurant to catch-up and sushi was on the menu again (yes, I love sushi, but my brain never thought it necessary to learn how to use the chopstick). Sushi arrived, and this time I used a fork to eat. My friend noticed and asked if I didn’t know how to use chopsticks. Her immediate response when I said no, blew me away: “Oya, let me teach you”.
Now the group I was working with in Scenario A was a professional networking group which had mission statements revolving around sharing knowledge, bridging gaps, pulling people forward and what not. However, the general response to my inability to use chopsticks was laughter. They say the little things add up to the big things and that moment was another reason why I dissociate from the words ‘professional’ and ‘networking’. Or maybe since there was a number of us, the Bystander Effect was at play and everyone kept expecting someone else to take the lead to teach.
…Just maybe, but then based on several other interactions I’ve had, and observed, it seems that some people just enjoy being the only ones to know something. Fair enough stance, but what I don’t understand is when they use that knowledge as a superior badge and ridicule someone that is ignorant without making any effort to teach them. Or when they act as if the weight / plight of the world is on their shoulders because of how much they know, but still they refuse to share. But you learnt from somewhere too, no?
Whether someone taught you, or you went to do your research, remember that someone, somewhere, took their time in preserving the knowledge so you can tap from it. Except of course you discovered a totally new concept / idea, of which you’d still want to share because do you really know what you know if people don’t know what it is that you know?
So now that you exist in your enlightened privilege, what are you going to do with it? The right answer is: “anything I want”, but with knowledge comes power and with power comes a great responsibility. Yes, heavy is the head that wears the crown. No one is asking for you to break out your own teaching schemes or syllabus for every new thing you learn, however, in your daily interactions, there will be at least one case of you knowing something someone else doesn’t. That, right there, is your moment.
…and that brings me to the second part. The How. People are ignorant for different reasons – some don’t have the means to learn even if they wanted to, some don’t know how to start, some are confused by what they’ve learnt and some just don’t want to know at all. However, if you’re going to teach someone and make them feel like crap while you’re at it, it won’t stick…and most likely, they’ll remember how you made them feel much longer than whatever message you were trying to pass across. Instead (and if it is really important that you pass the message across), you will need to be patient and kind enough to guide the person along (quick shout-out to all the amazing teachers out there!). Did I know I like sushi? Yes. Did I know it helps to know how to use a chopstick? Yes. Did I learn how to use them? Nope. Did people laughing at me make me learn how to use them? Nope, but a friend offering to help finally made me interested enough to learn.
It doesn’t matter if it’s something the person should have known and it may sometimes feel like people are being ignorant solely to piss you off. What matters though is that the knowledge is passed across to those who need it and can actively use it. That is your cross to bear, but if you know you’ve maxed out on your ‘kindness and patience’ for the day, then allow that interaction pass you by.
Side note: why is most of the information on pollution and climate change in scientific-speak that the people who are most responsible for the pollution cannot understand?
differentshadesofbrown 