The Injustice of Ignoring - Daily Ramblings

Yesterday I wrote a little bit about the injustice which comes from inaction. Today I want to continue on the theme of injustice and talk about the injustice of ignoring. Plus, my wife and I have been watching "The Handmaid's Tale" - which we love - and I was reminded of the quote above.

We have all heard the saying, "ignorance is bliss", but have you ever given thought to how true and profound that is? Knowledge can be a haunting and burdensome thing to discover. Ignorance on the other hand - although still dangerous in many cases - is freeing.

How many of you have had the experience of having your eyes opened to an injustice in the world? Do you remember the feeling? At times, when this has happened to me, I wish I could unlearn what I just discovered. Having the veil removed from my eyes gave me the obligation to do something. Sure, there are times I have attempted to play dumb. To pretend I am still ignorant of the knowledge I have discovered. But what does that do but make the injustice that much greater?

Imagine you have a very packed week ahead of you. You hop in your car on Monday morning and head into work. On the way to work your "check engine" light comes on. The oil was just changed in the past week, so there must be some sort of problem. At this point you have two options: you create more chaos in your week by taking your car to the mechanic, or you roll the dice and ignore the light. Although it is not fun to upend your schedule for a "check engine" light, if you ignore the problem how much worse will it be? You will probably still end up at the mechanic, with a larger bill and an even more crazy schedule.

You were ignorant of the problem developing in your car, but when the light came on and you were no longer ignorant of the growing problem, life became more difficult. The same is true in life. There are plenty of problems and issues growing around us which we are ignorant of, but once we have our eyes opened to them, we are required to put in the work. We must work to do something about the problem, or work to ignore them.

Ignorance may be bliss, but if you are no longer ignorant I plead with you not to put in the work of ignoring.