"Once you know you know, and until you know you don't know"

I ran across this quote today and it struck me. I know many folks who base their knowledge upon limited references and experiences. Most people have the mainstream media as their primary point of knowledge. The evening news, CNN, Fox, NBC they cant be wrong after all it is on TV. Or the morning paper after all it is our ?local? paper surely it can?t be wrong. Then there are those folks who get their view of the world from the books they read, after all if you?re published you must be the authority on whatever the topic is.

My issue here is that all the above represent second, third or fourth hand knowledge. Look at your local paper most of everything except the obituaries are provided by a news wire service. Look at the television they are showing you exactly what triggers their network ratings. The color of your neighbors flowers does not register and get no publishing. If your neighbor is breaking the law, that is something which starts the interest juices flowing and therefore gets media attention. Then there are the books, the more pages the more authoritative the book rarely is the sources sited and when they are it is incomplete or out of the intended context. Just look at the various Christian demonization who use parts of the bible at the base of their doctrine, but only parts.

Once you know you know:

Hammer your finger and you then KNOW it hurts.
Crash your car and then you KNOW it is not a good thing.
Play Russian roulette and loose and well you get the point.

What I am saying is they too many folks have stopped living life. They rely on second hand experience to ?know? what life is all about. They never dug a fence line but they read it is hard work. They never ran a 10K race but they watched it on TV, and it looked hard. They never had to duck incoming rounds but they watched it on the evening news and therefore they believe it is dangerous. They never had to build something and then watch it be destroyed, stolen, or abused.

I KNOW members of my family think I am an opinionated narrow minded bigot. I know they view my actual experiences as second to those experiences they have received by their media. I know they have had some very comfortable miles under them compared to miles on the road of hard knocks.

And until you know you don?t know:

I am not advocating that people should run in front of bullets to ?prove? it is painful. I am however advocating that people should live. They should try those things that they have only heard about from second and third hand sources. Dig a whole plant a tree. Build something with your hands. Try something harder than you can actually do today. Prove the media right or wrong just prove something. Get up and live life.

I know that those members of my family who think I am an ?opinionated narrow minded bigot? have never walked a day in my shoes. I know that it hurts they have formed negative opinions based upon a limited experience base.

?Once you know you know, and until you know you don?t know.?

I know war is no fun. I know family will hurt you first. I know people all over the world have it harder than I do. I know my children have it better than I did. I know that the media only tells me what they want me to hear. I know God can change a life. I do not know what happens after life, I have my faith, my belief, and my ideas and they are strong. But until I experience that day I only have my faith. Oh by the way when I KNOW what happens after life, you wont be able to watch it on television, or read about it in a book. You will just have to experience it for yourself, and then you will know.