Friday, June 08, 2012
I started becoming a liberal when I sat at the supper table & realized all the other people there were racists, & I was the only one who didn't want to be a racist anymore. I thought, the first thing I need to do is stop listening to these people called "family." If they're wrong about racism, they might be wrong about a lot of other stuff. At the time, I didn't even know an African-American.
The downside is that adolescent idealism can become outright rebellion, & one loses access to the authentic wisdom imperfect people impart - since everyone is imperfect. As Mark Twain purportedly said (& probably didn't say), "When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much he had learned in seven years."
"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be." Thomas Jefferson
The downside is that adolescent idealism can become outright rebellion, & one loses access to the authentic wisdom imperfect people impart - since everyone is imperfect. As Mark Twain purportedly said (& probably didn't say), "When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much he had learned in seven years."
