ME-ssentials – Ignorant – Day Twenty
ESSENTIALS for Me NOT to Be: IGNORANT
September 20th, 2021
What’s your ESSENTIAL?
Essential: absolutely necessary; indispensable; the essence of a thing; inherent and intrinsic, vital
Just as there are so many ESSENTIALS for me to be, there are just as many ESSENTIALS for me NOT to be. Let’s explore those the other half of this month!
Proverbs 4:23-27, ‘Keep vigilant watch over your heart; that’s where life starts. Don’t talk out of both sides of your mouth; avoid careless chatter, white lies, and gossip. Keep your eyes straight ahead; ignore all sideshow distractions. Watch your step, and the road will stretch smooth before you. Look neither right nor left; leave evil in the dust.’ (MSG)
Ignorance is one of those good-cop, bad-cop words. On somedays, it helps to be ignorant, and other days, that’s the last thing we should be…ignorant. So instead it is essential to be discerning and know the difference.
I remember years ago I knew this person, quite well I thought, who was the sweetest guy ever—never had an unkind word to say, never took off his smile, always offered to help no matter what the task—but he was mentally challenged, didn’t have all his socks in the sock drawer. Those who knew him were very protective over him and he never met a stranger. He was loved by an entire community.
But everybody thought he was ignorant. And he sported that perhaps because it provided benefits to him. He didn’t put himself out there often so it was an assumption, I am sure, that everyone believed. Due to his handicaps, it had been long since ascertained that our friend wasn’t traveling with a full set of keys, and he likely didn’t even know it or care, we whispered from time to time.
Until one night. Some old boys just assumed my friend didn’t understand what they were talking about. They laid out the blueprint for their robbery plan, agreed on the time and how it was going down, never once paying attention to the ignorant one. I almost didn’t answer the knock on the door that night when I heard my friend call from the other side. It took energy and time to understand him; I was worn out. But something, maybe my love for him and never wanting to put him off or hurt his feelings, I don’t know, made me open the door. He laid out the entire planned scam and his words about their intent were as clear as a summer day—first time I ever understand every word he uttered, and that was a feat even when he wasn’t so wound up and excited!
We were there, and the police too, when the time came for the heist. It was a nice little AHA moment for those old boys and it saved me much, maybe my business even. But the real WOW! was my friend, who really was never ignorant at all. I asked him then, ‘You’ve known about a lot of things, I’ll bet, a lot of secrets you heard, and no one ever really gave it any thought, huh?’ He smiled slowly, and nodded, a wry grin eating his face. He tapped a finger to his head, his tangled speech falling out, ‘I smart. I listen. I pay ‘ttention.’ Yessir, he sure did.
