Ignorance Isn’t Bliss

Helen Keller said, “Knowledge is light and love and vision.” The gist of this expression is very simple and her statement closely reflects my credo that I live by today. Knowledge, understanding, acceptance, realization and reasoning are principles that not only characterize someone we find to be intelligent but also principles that enhance our world. These ideas make the world not only a more cultured place, but a better world to live in. I truly believe that understanding and tolerance improve our society.

From the beginning of history I’ve seen patterns of cruelty in numerous civilizations — patterns of hate, patterns of intolerance and patterns of injustice. The terms Hitler, Klu Klux Klan, the Darfur genocides, and Israel and Palestine all bring about terrible images of violence, tension and misunderstanding of each other on a large scale in my mind. All the negative images are rooted in a lack of understanding and great intolerance.

I can remember other patterns as well, patterns of people like Mother Teresa, Nelson Mandela, Mohandas Gandhi, Jesus and Martin Luther King, Jr. who all bring about happy, inspirational images that touch my heart. What is the common link that drives out positive feelings for these people in my mind? Understanding and tolerance of other people. All these great men and women have possessed it.

I have witnessed intolerance and ignorance on many levels but probably one of the most prevalent is in my own school. Racism, sexism and hatred walk through the school halls as easily as our own students do. One image of ignorance I have that will stay with me for a long time, was in history class. A history class just a few days ago, in fact.

Mr. Luce, my teacher, had been talking about Ancient Indian culture for some time. We had recently started learning about Hinduism, the religion of that very diverse and vibrant culture. While Mr. Luce spoke of Brahma, the major god of the Hindu religion and how Hindus believed in reincarnation — a process to purify the soul in order to return to Brahma — the girl sitting on my left said, “What freaks. Why would anyone believe in that?”

What freaks. What freaks? The words shot through my mind for a while. How could anyone be so unforgiving, so ignorant, so close-minded? Because it was not her religion, her belief, her thought process, she immediately marked it wrong, incorrect, and immoral.

With situations like this happening every day all around me, I stop to think of how much better off our world would be without hate but instead with love. Mohandas Gandhi said, “Where there is love, there is life.” I think this is true. When people take the time to understand each other, Israelis and Palestinians, the Sudanese government and its people, blacks and whites, the time we have will be more valuable than ever. Though its really corny, I dream of a world similar to the famous image of little kids of every culture holding hands around our globe. Full of understanding, love, and acceptance, our world, our society would prosper.

In short, I think that everyone deserves the respect and tolerance of their belief whether it’s in Mr. Luce’s history class, or in the catastrophic genocides that unfortunately occur around our world. Knowledge is light and love and vision, perhaps it is the key to a great world.