The boy was so ashamed of what he had done.
Everything in his life would never have pointed to it, no one would have even suspected that this boy of all people would say something so terrible.
Everyone around him was shocked, and not everyone was ready to open up to him again. Friendships were cancelled, and deeds of the last years turned from sagas to crimes. It was only three words that came out of him. Three words that were embarrassing for both him and his parents. Even his grandparents and all grandparents before them were embarrassed to say those three words. Only this generation was unique.
This shame was suffered for the first time in his family tree, shaped to such an extent that only a few individuals in the universe can comprehend. For many it’s the most repulsive, the most disgusting thing to even think of, and then this young man of – who knows – 35 years or so comes along and just says it in public!
And it’s even stranger: He answered a question that no one had asked, the answer of which no one would really have been interested, but as soon as these three words were uttered, it was suddenly quiet around him.
It wasn’t even like he was screaming. He spoke in a completely ordinary tone, even with a soft voice that was not too deep, and with a little forced smile of realization. Glances fell, but no question.
Why, huh? Why should anyone ask? It would be absurd to ask someone who doesn’t know anything! He looked so smart!
Such a nerd, like in a picture book, who no one dared to speak to because he was so smart, had no friends, and admittedly looked competent. And then something like that!
One would have thought he knew everything! Like Einstein ! Like Newton! Like the average hacker, with average hobbies and the views of a quiet, average dictator. The worldview of many people who knew him collapsed. Those who knew him earlier broke off contact with him long before. They wondered about a lot of things. „Why does he say that? Something like that is not normal! He just stands on the street and says: „I don’t know“. No normal person does that! “
This event got through the media worldwide. The question went around the world. Yet there was no one who heard this question and actually gave serious thought about it. None of the average people asked: „How did it continue?“ Or „And why did he say that?“
Perhaps there was brief ironic chatter about it in the local language at a dining table in 5 countries further, then laughter and finally the normal everyday life would be continued.
But if they would only have questioned. Just once. And would have come to the greatest finding in human history. That, which answers everything. What would make all people more intelligent people.
That finding, which has always been responsible for every success, be it private or public, and will always be. The boy just went on that day as if nothing had happened. Well. He was a little bit ashamed, and also wondered what was wrong with him, just saying, just admitting that he didn’t know anything.
Then he figured it out himself. „Why did I even say that?“
He wondered in his mind.
„Did that have an origin, a reason, a logical justification?“
„Why do I actually want that to be a logical reason?“
„… Why do I even ask?“
And then he remembered that that was the question he didn’t know the answer to, back then, on the streets.
From that day on, he decided to keep looking for the answer until he understood. Without ever saying anything. Without ever telling a person about his theories or questions.
He became such a nerd, like from a picture book that nobody dared to speak to because he was so clever.
Someone who had no friends and, admittedly, looked competent, but never really was until that day.
One day he got smarter than Einstein! As Newton! Smarter and better than your average hacker. Had hobbies and views comparable to those of a quiet, average dictator. And he was calm too.
But no longer because he knew nothing and was ashamed of it. No, he knew enough. Enough to know the average person. Enough to know that he knows more, wants to know more, and will know more too!
When he was waiting at a traffic light a few days later and a little girl, holding her mother’s hand, asked him how such a traffic light worked, he proudly replied:
„I don’t know!“
“The only thing I know is that I know nothing, and i am not quite sure that i know that.” – Socrates
I wish you a wonderful day, stay curious, and…
Thank you for reading!
Mexistencey 