My Blog Manifesto

I've been sitting back over the past few days thinking about my posts. Am I too preachy? Am I coming across as some know-it-all? I hope not. In my fervor to talk about what I've learned, I hope it's apparent that I also haven't learned a great deal.

The Buddha has a great quote about wisdom that I wish I could find. The gist of the quote is that the more you learn, the more you realize that you know so little. Anyone who believes they have it all figured out might be the least knowledgeable of them all.

Ben Franklin had his own grandiose way of saying the same thing: "The doorstep to the temple of wisdom is the knowledge of our own ignorance."

So here I am, acknowledging my own ignorance. I acknowledge that in my wandering path so far, the blacks and whites have become grays. Many things I thought to be most certainly true have slipped into a gray area. I hope it's a sign that I am getting wiser. I am always leery of someone who sees the world in black and white; it seems to suggest that they haven't thought thoroughly enough to discover all of the gray area in between.

If you had asked me what I knew to be true about life when I was 18 years old, it would probably be a fairly substantial list. I wish I had done this exercise just because I wonder what I would have to say. I know that my list would be shorter today.

It makes me wildly curious about my own future self. What do I feel that I "know" now that will slip into more questions and less knowing? What will 40, 50, 60 year old Brittany "know" about the world?

So just in case you've ever thought I've gotten the idea that I am an authority on anything, I want to make it clear that I am not.

The natural snarky response would be, "Then why is someone who knows nothing writing a blog?" My first snarky thought back is, "Don't people who know nothing blog/write/talk/scream at us all every day?" Smile.

But seriously, here's the point of my writing a blog: I am doing my best to learn, share nuggets of what I learn with others, and am hoping for some verbal sparring to come my way when someone will challenge what I think I know and give me reason to pause and learn some more.

I pledge to myself that I will never stop being a student of life, no matter how much I think I've got things figured out. I hope you'll come on the journey with me and share what you believe to be true and we can chew on it together.