embraceignorance

One of the beliefs that serves me in everything is Embrace Ignorance. It’s better than knowing a little and doubting that you might be wrong. If you admit that you don’t know then you set yourself up to find out. But if you glue your hands to one cup of knowledge and will only drink from that one cup,  you will be thirsty very soon. There are many more cups out there. Some of them bigger than the one you’re holding. So, next time, you “know” something but it’s not helping you get what you want, consider this: Maybe you don’t know jack. Embrace Ignorance. Pause. Observe. Ask. Get to Know.

Instances when embracing ignorance saved me:

When I lived in Haiti, I lived not in the Haiti of tourists but essentially in what would be the ghetto. So when I went to a super ritzy Catholic school for the wealthy, I didn’t know what WC meant because I didn’t have one at home. I spent a lot of time not knowing and trying to hide it.  And then I realized that I would never know anything if I was afraid to be ignorant. I made it in school because I checked my pride at the door and I asked questions. About everything. And I read. And I learned. When I saw an opportunity for experience, I took it. Now I know.

When I arrived in New York, I was 12. I didn’t know anything. I didn’t know the streets or the language. I had to embrace the fact that I was ILLITERATE in this land. If I freaked out and only spoke to folks in the Haitian community, where I knew what to say, I would never improve. So, I took a 1-year haitus off Creole and French. Whenever someone who spoke any English at all spoke to me in Creole or French, I responded in the worst English I knew. And that’s why I can now converse with all of you lovely people. And that is awesome!

Everything on this blog is the result of “oh my God, how is that done?! And then a lot of prodding before I did figure it out.

Every day, I get up and I embrace  that fact: I don’t know. I hate not knowing! I’m not satisfied with not knowing so I poke and I learn and things get easier. But only because I first admitted my short-coming. I admitted that I had room to grow.

P.S. If you were wondering about the poster:  Miriam Schaaf is a fashion label from Munich. This poster is the ad for her store, which I spotted all around Munich. It’s a simple sleek black and white design yet it invokes a sense of mystery. Her work is just like the poster: simple, sharp designs in black and white fabrics.