Ignorance is (not) bliss
A trip to the city centre always brings this feeling about. A certain feeling of deep remorse for my actions and inactions. Most of the time I’m not actually able to create change, and so surfacing from the profoundness of shame is rarely possible, either.
A bearded man with a crutch and a crippling injury in his left buttock hobbled by the leaky bus stop. His clothes weren’t dirty but they weren’t especially clean. Every step looked difficult for him, and the voice inside my head begged, “somebody please do something to help him”. Thirty seconds later, he was out of sight, and out of mind.
In the time that the poor man had driven me to connect with my innate humanity, I had just as quickly forgotten him, and in a sip of my £2.40 double espresso macchiato from Costa Coffee, I found instant resolve. In hindsight, there was of course nothing I could have done. Perhaps I could have patronisingly offered him some money, but some scant change isn’t going to change his life; or could it?
Well, probably not, actually. But with this outlook, surely nothing you do can help anything; recycling your plastics, buying sustainable clothing, becoming vegetarian. In the grand scheme of things, even if one person does one of these things, their impact will be relatively insignificant. Yet it is precisely this mentality that demeans our virtue, degrades our humanity, and in the end, I believe, will make us unhappy if ignored.
That feeling of guilt I felt when I saw that man by the bus stop is not uncommon, and many people will feel a pang of similar guilt for many reasons. It boils up and over in our mind and, emotionally speaking, it is damaging. Our mind is urging us that what we are seeing, doing, or not doing is wrong. Unfortunately, in today’s world, ignorance is just a part of everyday life.
Yes, ignorance is bliss, there are some things you simply cannot do anything about, but there are far more things you can do something about. Luckily, many people today, myself included, have the privilege of having the opportunity to make small but significant changes. From here, I believe we can better ourselves, be happier, and truly develop as a society.
