By Doing Good…

Ignorant talk is that type of speak that’s leaves us wondering who’s more embarrassed, the speaker or those who are listening to him/her. Many a great saying addresses foolishness and how it can be avoided by simply keeping one’s mouth shut. I’m learning continuously that there is a time to think, a time to act and a time to say and the prior two usually prove more valuable than the latter.

A woman named Emma Goldman, not exactly an American heroine in her day, said, “The most violent element in society is ignorance.” If Goldman was onto something, it was that there is something or some things that I don’t understand and, dare I say, am oblivious to. Furthermore, my ignorance coupled with a lack of desire for knowledge is a great threat to society. And when I say “I” please believe that I mean you too :-). Take communication and problem solving. All verbal exchanges require Encoding and Decoding, Sender of the message and Receiver of the message. But simple communication theory says that invariably, noise interrupts communication. I mean, when a guy like Joseph Kony of Uganda forces children (Invisible Children) to take up arms for his cause, ensuring their demise and possible death, it’s clear that noise has interrupted communication. Kony needs something but is ignorant of what the something is. He once had  a need, perhaps a longing to see a certain reality materialize in his country but it never happened and now he’s a monster.

Ignorance results in foolishness but “…by doing good, you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men” (I Peter 2:15). I’m learning that ignorance is pervasive, flooding our culture through the conduits of distraction, apathy and self-absorption. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once said, ““Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.” There is a tenacity that I long for to combat the foolishness and I am convinced it has little to do with running off at the mouth. Being an enemy combatant toward ignorance and its yield requires a commitment to the development of my own spiritual core and the actions that naturally flow out of that core.

Complaining about evil has always been en vogue while doing the good to silence foolishness has proven to be a sporadic ebb and flow. And I sympathize with complainers because I am one. Basketball, even in high school, has produced an egotistical athlete complete with a sense of entitlement and a host of other harmful traits. But it’s only a sliver of the “foolish talk” that ripples throughout a world ripe for some grand good deeds.