They say it’s not reasonable to aim for perfection because it’s in our nature to commit mistakes. Well, I agree to that. As a matter of fact, mistakes or failures can be a good way of realizing and learning things. But can we always consider the fact that our mistakes are mainly because of being clueless on what the effects would be? Is it always acceptable to hear an excuse that something is done or not done out of ignorance? And is consideration a good way to understand the reasons why sometimes people are entitled to be ignorant?  

Ignorance is defined as a state of being unaware or uninformed. Sometimes, it includes a premeditated intent to ignore facts that conflicts with what a person believes. According to a famous physicist named Richard Feynman, “If we did not have a doubt or recognize ignorance, we would not get any new ideas.” Also, he stated that freedom of doubt is an important matter to sciences and other fields. To him, it is important not to forget the significance of struggle because people learn a lot of valuable things through hardships. I think I would like to praise him for taking ignorance as a challenge and not as a hindrance because to most physicists or scientists like him, ignorance is their worst enemy and sometimes it is embarrassing to tell everyone that they lack knowledge about something. It only shows that he is not ashamed to tell his followers that it was never wrong to be wrong which is definitely right.

But in school or in the corporate world, people are expected not to show any sign of ignorance because we were taught at the first place. There are so many ways to understand and learn new things. Spoon feeding doesn’t exist in the real world. The only way to succeed in the game of life is to fight ignorance.

We cannot absolutely fight ignorance because there are so many factors why people become ignorant. The most prominent factor is poverty. When there is poverty there is lack of education. And if someone doesn’t have the privilege of being educated, then chances of being ignorant is possible. However, we can’t truly blame poverty and lack of scholastic knowledge because there are still so many alternatives of learning. The other factor why people become ignorant is arrogance. When a person is ashamed of admitting his failure and unawareness, he is also closing his doors on learning. Although most Filipinos were finding it hard to admit their ignorance, still, we should all keep in mind that nobody is perfect and for all we know the people we want to impress are all ignorant on their own ways as well.

I am a self-confessed ignorant in so many things and in so many ways. Maybe what I say in most of the articles I write is absolutely wrong because of my ignorance. However, I don’t let my incapacities stop me from learning and being who I want to be. I always make sure to keep in mind that ignorance is a better friend that arrogance because through ignorance I was able to learn that I am being human and that I am not afraid to fail because there will be so many opportunities for me to right what’s wrong. Before we curse or judge or discriminate someone because of his ignorance let us think first of the reasons why he is being such. And instead of mocking him, let’s just help him correct his mistakes to avoid redundancy.