Tell Me Something I Don't Know
There are a lot of well meaning people in the world who like to help others. If I have a problem, I only have to post on Facebook and dozens will cheerfully answer my question, no matter how dumb. My friends will also tell me things I need to know. Their information is always invaluable because then know what a doofus I am.
I admit it–there is a lot of stuff I don't know that I ought to know. I am helpless in the kitchen. I don't think about things like new bank fees (learned that on Facebook) or how to get stains out of whites, or how much is too much for coffee.
But I have lived a few decades, and I am not completely out of it. So yesterday morning, when I was out walking my dog, and I told a neighbor I had gotten a splinter, I could not help but wonder what prompted her to tell me how to get it out. Yes. With a straight face, she told me how to get a splinter out of my finger.
Not too long ago, a woman at yoga class told me when it's really hot, you need to drink a lot of water.
A guy at a gas station saw me studying the three options for gas and informed me that my car needs premium. Really?
So now I am wondering if it is me. Do I look like I have a few brain cells missing? Is it that some people speak their thoughts aloud and don't realize it? Have people run across others so out of touch with the world around them that they feel compelled to explain the most basic things, like how to get a splinter out of their finger?
I am ready for someone to tell me something I don't know. Like…what to do about my volatile retirement account (thank you Wall Street), or what things I should do to bring more readers to my books, or how to wade through all the political talking heads and make an informed decision about the presidency next year. Tell me that kind of stuff. I think I have the splinters covered.
Do you have people who offer you free advice? What is the most obvious thing anyone has told you? Do you have precocious kids around who tell you things that you know, but they say it like you just woke up? (I had one who told me this weekend I am not very smart. Hmm….detecting a pattern here)
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