During a conversation with a friend the subject of me not watching VH1, MTV, or channels like that came up. I replied, stating that I enjoy the History Channel, Discovery channel, and TLC more and think they have more value. To my surprise, my friend told me that they had a theory as to why I liked those channels.

“You like to know more than people. You want them to know that you know more than they do”. At first, I just kind of sat there, dumbfounded by being so abruptly told that basically, I’m a know-it-all. Then I thought about it for a second and decided I would explain why I watch those stations more and why I continually will.

I have always been a reader. I’ll read anything you hand to me. When I was young I read everything I could. I would go to the library and check out stacks upon stacks of books and read all of them. My intention was not to make people feel lowly or dumb, it was to learn. As I got older I moved from fictional books to non-fiction and was particularly interested in history, especially WWII history. I read all that I could find on the subject (I still do).

We did not have cable until I was around 14 or 15 and when we had it installed I was glued to the History Channel. I was amazed that there was so much that I didn’t know and the detail that presented about certain subjects. Now, I do not have cable anymore but I still read like a mad man. It’s my personality. I will take book suggestions from anyone, even if it’s on a subject that I am not necessarily interested in and read them.

What is wrong with this? I told another friend about this conversation and they said that they could explain what the person was saying, to a point. They informed me that I am a fairly blunt person and sometimes I come off harsh and demeaning. When someone brings up a subject that they know little about, especially current events or history, I unknowingly rip them apart. It is not intentional, it just happens. I have to make myself aware of it so that I do not scare people away.

Back to the main topic here. Is there something wrong with knowledge? Don’t we have a social responsibility to learn as much as possible so that we are aware of what is going on around us. Oil prices are a great example. Most Americans do not understand why prices are high outside of the reasons stated in newspapers, which just lightly touch on the subject. Do we not have an obligation to understand something before we anger over it or protest it? The more we know, the more we see and understand the world around us.

After explaining this, my friend told me that it isn’t just knowledge that makes us strong, it’s experience. I disagree. I think it’s both knowledge and experience that make us stronger people. And to experience something you must be knowledgeable about it to take an interest in it.

I am still a little offended by the comment for the simple reason that this person knows very little of my past and my life and yet makes wide and vast assumptions about why I do things. Reading and learning is who I am, it’s who I have always been, and it’s probably who I always be. Sorry.