By Allen Hamrick
Wisdom comes from all sources, whether it be from a steaming pot, a drunken individual, a bamboozler or a shoe. How unique we would be if we knew it all! All knowledge, good or bad, becomes a powerful tool that can rule nations. A little bit of knowledge has no conscious and can raise nations to the ground, because good and evil are set loose to wreak havoc. A person who has all the knowledge would wage war with their sprit of good and of evil. They would live in a world of absolute truth and absolute falsehoods where no one could survive, and making choices would drive them utterly mad to the point of self extinction.
In 1950, in a town called Wenook Flats, a very small boy weighing only three pounds was born to parents known as Mr. and Mrs. Mee. They were a couple that stayed most of the time to themselves as farmers on the outside of town. The townspeople were full of themselves; had great wealth and they kept their distance. The Mee’s were not like them at all. They stayed busy tending to farm life, seldom ever going into town. Their farm business started to boom when they decided it was time to expand the family, as well. In just a few short months, Mrs. Mee gave birth to a precious baby boy. Mr. Mee was disappointed to say the least.
He exclaimed, “A boy weighing just three pounds. I needed a big healthy boy to raise so he can take over the farm one day.” He looked at his wife, shook his head and walked out of the hospital room. Some of the nurses grinned while their backs were turned. This boy was different; he looked as if he could scare crows away. The mother cuddled the little boy who seemed eager to get life going. He ate as if this meal would be his last while his mother sang to him a song that only she could sing as he faded off to sleep.
That was many years ago. The boy grew but was not the farm hand his dad expected. He was different and still so small. He wondered about the farm in a daze most of the time and would not come in until late at night. The mother and dad weren’t sure what was wrong but something definitely was. His first word was not mama or dada but WHY. No matter what he did, he was constantly asking questions. Why does this work this way? Why does the sun hang in the sky? Why does a pig wallow in the mud? Why does corn grow ears and not hair? His mom and dad had no idea what to do because they didn’t have all the answers to his questions, and with each question their answer was followed by, “How do you know?” His thirst for knowledge became so great that the only remedy the doctors could come up with was to blind him. They deduced that without the eyes there would be no quest for knowledge because he wouldn’t be able to see what existed. No more math, no more science, no more questions, no more crazy notions, no more trying to explain what we don’t know or do know.
The doctor said, “The eyes are what makes us believe or disbelieve. What we see is not always what is true; sometimes what our eyes tell us is what we want them to tell us.” So, for the rest of his early years, he lived behind a mask, but it did nothing to sway his appetite for knowledge. As he grew older, the mask became a thing of the past. He attempted to work but was just unable to complete tasks given to him. He began to worry about things he couldn’t control and became unable to contain his emotions. He would often hurt those around him because they just didn’t understand. There were just too many versions of the truth, too many opinions, too many tracks going in too many directions. Soon, his longing for knowledge got the best of him and drove him mad. He went missing for years and was finally discovered inside a cardboard box. Inside the box was written Why Mee? Why Mee? Why Mee? Why Mee? Why Mee? Why Mee? Why Mee? Why Mee? When they buried him, there was no one to say a word over him. On his tombstone it read, “Here Lies Why Mee, born with a desire for knowledge but died never finding enough of it.”
It is not as important to know everything but to understand the importance of what we discover and to organize what we know about it. Knowledge is power, but it can also be destructive. With the coming of the cell phone, most people’s lives are glued to it, and they are unable to live without it. It is a tool like no other, and it puts all knowledge, the entire world in the palm of our hands. There is such a thing as to much information; control it before it controls you.
