Ignorance is costly! It is extremely expensive. Do you agree? Well, if you think so, and believe it, it is time to do something about it. Are you willing to do so? Are you willing to educate yourself? What are some of those things in your life, and in your country, that you need to learn more about? You see, there is no excuse for our ignorance any longer because it does not matter where we are, or what we are doing, we can learn if we really want to. This is the information age and information is easier to access than ever before. Information can be obtained whether we are lying in bed, sitting, walking, driving, running or even flying.
You see, to be ignorant of certain things is going to create problems. When one is unaware of something that will assist or affect him or her, it is going to have a negative impact on his or her life. But as soon as they are aware of what they were, at one point unaware of, their life will start to change for the better. The main hindrance to any form of success is lack of knowledge. That is the reason why many homes, organizations, countries, and so on, are destroyed as a result of ignorance. It is said that the mountain of problems people have is in their mountain of ignorance.
A story was once told of a pompous young man who once sought Socrates, the great philosopher, for knowledge. When he finally approached Socrates, his arrogance and pride were very apparent to Socrates. The philosopher then decided to teach the young man a lesson, so he took him to a pool of water deep enough for the purpose. Socrates asked the young man, “What do you want?” And the young man answered, “I want knowledge.” So, Socrates pulled the young man down with great strength and held him under the water for some seconds before pulling him out. The young man gasped for air desperately. Socrates asked him the question again, “What do you want?” and the young man answered again, “I want knowledge.” Socrates again dipped the young man into the water for the second time, this time a little longer, before he was pulled up. He was then asked the same question, “What do you want?” and he answered with great breathing difficulty, “I want knowledge.” Again, for the third time, he was given the same treatment, and he was held under the water for even longer than the second time. Finally, he was asked the question again by Socrates, “What do you want?” This time the young man gasped and gasped for air and cried out, “I want air!” Do you see how long, and at what cost, it took the young man to find out what he really needed? Well, it is the same with us as well. Amidst all that is happening around us, and the effects we are experiencing from those repercussions, we still do not know or realize what we need. We still prefer to wallow in ignorance. You see, until a man seeks knowledge as much as the air he breathes, it can be argued he is not prepared to learn. A person such as this will forever remain mediocre.
People are ignorant because:
1. They lack knowledge
2. They acquire inadequate facts
3. They misinterpret information, and
4. They have wrong expectations
When a person lacks the facts, or has the right information, but has the wrong expectations, it is just as useless as not having any knowledge at all. The first kind of ignorance is not knowing — the lack of knowledge. This is simply not having the facts that can transform our lives. We remain in the dark and that will cause us to perish in life. It is a great tragedy for someone to be in this world without a clue about his or her mission on earth, and the means to accomplishing it, or living in a country and don’t have a clue of what is going on around him or her and seem not to care either. What a travesty that is!
The Bible warns us about the detrimental effect of ignorance. Hosea 4:6 states, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge. I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.” What tragedy! When we have the facts from God’s Word, but we do not understand God’s purpose, our ignorance is more than tragic – it is deadly.
The apostle Paul also warned us about the detrimental effect of ignorance. He told us that he was well learned in religion and matters concerning the Jewish law, however, he was spiritually ignorant until he encountered Jesus Christ. He states in 1Timothy 1:12-13, “And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry; who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief”.
God made a way for him to become a Christian with a special mission after he had been a violent terrorist, responsible for the death of many Christians. He was misguided in his belief and, until his encounter with God, he had been a closed-minded scholar wearing a veil of spiritual ignorance. My friends, don’t let those things be said of us. The times of ignorance are over. Let us get the facts and be informed about the things that are necessary in our personal lives and in the affairs of our country. We cannot afford to live our lives in ignorance any longer. The cost is too great. It is extremely expensive to do so.
Remember: Our lives are universally shortened by our ignorance.
About the Author: Mrs. Marilyn Hodge owns and operates the Wellness Centre in the Farrington, Anguilla. The Centre offers Counselling Services by Appointment Only and has now published Positive Living Volume 2. Contact information: 476-3517 or email: marilynb@anguillanet.com. www.facebook.com/axawellnesscentre
