September 4, 2026

Worth Knowing

There’s an expression: what you don’t know won’t hurt you. Untrue. That’s like saying “ignorance is bliss.” A reason not to visit doctors when you detect a physical problem or to ignore your bank balance and credit card bills until your financial world collapses around you. Deliberately not knowing means you’re ignoring problems that might cause pain and, frankly, that’s dumb.

But who likes to say, “I don’t know,” when asked a question? At one time, when I was young, I sometimes felt an inordinate amount of time trying to disguise my many knowledge gaps. I remember a journalism school professor telling us that sometimes, when at job interviews, you might be asked a tricky question. (“Who is the current president of Uganda?”) The answer: “I don’t know, but I know how to find out quickly.

“Of course, with today’s technology we’re on our smartphones in a heartbeat looking it up. No wonder it’s becoming harder and harder to keep what we learn in our heads.

It’s my belief that what I don’t know is always worth knowing.