Knowing by Alex Klouda Im sitting in school listening to someone give an answer, which they think is full of confidence, to a question

that was just asked. All I can think about is how that person can be so ignorant to assume their answer is correct. I see blind arrogance and not confidence in their answer. When I try to answer a question in a more reserved way it is seen as not being confident but in my mind it was to show that I was aware that I could be wrong. I struggled with this notion in my head for quite some time until I found something that finally put my mind at ease. When one is young they always have those few things that make them feel lesser than everyone else. Usually they are physical things like body shape or being bad at sports. Im not going to lie I have some of those as well, but the one that Im going to focus on here is something more important than those. This quirk is not physical at all, it is mental, and it is my way of thinking. It became so ingrained in me that there would be no way of changing it, there would be no way someone could alter the type of person I had already become. This thought process tended to make me feel lesser than others because of the notion that most think differently than I do. Even though I felt separate from others for not being confident in my thoughts I still believed that there was nothing wrong in the

way that I came to my decisions. I dont think one should be confident without fully being prepared for the situation, otherwise the person will make a fool of themselves and show they truly had no idea about what they were doing. There are few times when I actually felt prepared to give a confident answer. For this reason I wondered if I was just someone who wasn't confident in their way of thinking. This is when it hit me that my way of thinking is exactly what I am confident in. I have always been fully aware that I could be wrong at any time or that I could

make a mistake like everyone does. In other words I am confident in my imperfection. Soon after this realization is when I came in contact with a quote that made so much sense to me. It is from the Greek philosopher Socrates, and he states I am the wisest man alive, for I know one thing, and that is that I know nothing. Seeing this quote gave me so much relief because it was practically the same ideology I have been living by. A historically famous man known for his intellect and beliefs was saying that being aware of knowing nothing was a wise thing.

Socrates was aware that almost every statement someone speaks is up for speculation. This is why he asked people to define justice, so that he could show them that they do not truly understand what it is. This shows that things tend to seem simple until you dig a little deeper and see how intricate everything really is. The quote has made me feel that there is nothing wrong with the thinking process that I use. After grasping this concept I now try to poke holes in my own arguments before I propose them and I am not as surprised when I have an incorrect answer

because I am open to any

possibility.