A: 8/26/02

Work Diary, 8/26/02

Education: the path from cocky ignorance to miserable
uncertainty."
- Mark Twain

I was just driving back from the post office after mailing my Texan
cousin's engagement gift, and along the way I was thinking of the value
of a good, solid education. Don't ask me why; I think I was watching
some poor soul sweep the sidewalk in this oppressive heat and his
sunburned face and stooped shoulders just triggered the thought.
Anyway, when I got back, I checked my home email and the above quote by
Mark Twain had been sent to me. The sender collects quotes, puts them
into some sort of thematic collection, and then -- along with an
advertisement for, say, human-growth-hormone or penis enlargement --
emails the whole thing to God knows how many subscribers. I can't
imagine they make any money off the site but it's not my problem. I do,
however, enjoy the quotes.

I particularly like Twain's words, "cocky ignorance." A dyslexic
thesaurus lover might interpret those words to mean "stupid dick," but
I think Twain was being somewhat prescient when he wrote them. I bet
the United States' favorite Southerner had no idea just how accurately
he described what would become a nation full of rubes.

Don't get me wrong: A college degree is not a necessity in life, nor is
one necessary for many important jobs. Likewise, higher education
(whatever that means) is not some mysterious path to enlightenment.
Plenty of people are self-taught, self-educated, and great thinkers?and
they still sweep sidewalks, either by choice or circumstances. Long
live the sidewalk sweepers, I say, because somebody's gotta do
it.

No, I'm talking about that "cocky" part of the populace, the type of
people who spend what amounts to a college education on Harley Davidson
motorcycles while their kids make do with last year's corduroys?and the
taunts and jeers of their classmates. But, hey! Dad's got the coolest
bike!

Or the type of people who get lost in a voting booth who say things
like, "They ought to just nuke that whole Middle East and have done
with it. Bunch of spineless politicians?blow 'em all to hell!"

Or people who are two questionable shakes from signing their names with
an "X" who wear T-shirts with sayings like, "I grew up in the school of
hard knocks," and then proceed to fornicate and propagate until they've
made sure their own little social parasites have no choice but to get
the same hard knocks.

You might be thinking, "How tragic?old JAB16 has gone over to the Dark
Side and become a Republican," but you'd be mistaken. Ignorance is not
the same thing as stupidity; ignorance can be fixed, or cured, or
whatever. So, when I see Twain's words, "cocky ignorance," a whole slew
of images and stories concerning the ignorami around me come to mind,
and along with those images comes the "miserable uncertainty" that
Twain also talks about.

And, see, I ended that last sentence with a preposition, something I
know I'm not supposed to do. But I made an educated choice, because it
sounds better, and I didn't screw up the sentence rhythm by trying too
hard. At one time, I wouldn't have known to keep those feisty
prepositions away from my periods, but now I do, and I get to decide if
that rule will apply or not.

And isn't that the whole point?