I saw this movie, A Jazzman’s Blues, written, directed, and produced by Tyler Perry, available on Netflix. It’s a terrific story of how it was living in the South for a black man in 1937. The ending was a disappointment. What is it about great movies that flub up the endings? I’ve written books and a screenplay and make sure my endings close the story well. Gosh, there’s nothing like a poor ending! Sorry, I had to vent that out.

Anyway, the gist of the movie is ignorance. I believe it’s a disease we can cure ourselves.

Ignorance is bred into the family, like brown hair and blue eyes. And it could be to anything, not just to an ideology about a race. You could be ignorant of the new ingredients food manufacturers are putting into their products to save a buck that isn’t good for the human body. Ignorant about global warming. Or you could be ignorant about raising your kids so they have good self-worth. It’s not so much a fault but sometimes as simple as an inability to realize it’s happening.

We learn from everyone around us. Family, friends, peers, co-workers, and public figures can influence our decisions and create an ignorance within us that aligns with their thinking.

Sometimes it’s easier to go with the crowd instead of having independent thoughts and actions.

Ignorance is easy. Healthy thinking requires focus and an open mind.  To have an open mind means you challenge what you hear or see.

But isn’t ignorance bliss? I like to think I don’t need to know all the ins and outs of a medical procedure because it may make me more anxious. Or learning something about your family you wished you didn’t know because it changes how you think about them. Eh, I think the truth is better than a lie any day.  The truth hurts a bit but you get over it. If we learn about a lie, it can change us forever.

Ignorance is also a disease. It comes from a mind unable to hold a rational thought. How could a human being be so harmful to a race of people just because of the color of their skin? It’s all based on fear. Someone created a storyline to justify taking people, human beings, away from their native homes, keeping them in inhumane conditions on ships, to do their bidding for a meager compensation of a roof over their heads. The story got created to breed fear to control people’s minds – to control the narrative and make it seem okay.

People create their storylines based on what they experienced and pass it down allowing ignorance to flourish. Hatred and bad feelings can run rampant with ignorance. Logic and facts can go out the window because people will believe what they learned and they can’t open themselves to new possibilities. And most of the time, at the core, is either a fear or a need to control.

Children trust their parents and family that the information they receive is true and correct. But too many people perpetuate lies and stories that help them avoid fear. When I shared my feelings with my child, chances are she didn’t question it and may still have those ideas in her head. I tried to share truths, but I was ignorant too.

The good news is we can cure ourselves of the ignorance disease!

All we need to do is be willing to listen, learn and be open-minded to get all the facts. If we replace intimidation and fear with love, this can help anyone break free of the ignorance disease. When you care about someone or something other than yourself, fear seems to dissipate.

When I first got the Internet and email, I got a forwarded email about bananas having some flesh-eating bug on them and that we shouldn’t eat them. I wouldn’t buy bananas! I allowed some random spam email to control my actions and prevented myself from enjoying a banana! That’s how powerful ignorance can be.

Now I think I know better, and those types of emails don’t seem to be around so much anymore. Were we collectively able to cure that ignorant email spoof disease and not be suckers for those lies? Maybe. Or maybe the people spreading those relatively harmless untrue emails moved on to more radical and dangerous messaging. I don’t know for sure.

Heck, as kids word of mouth rivaled some of the top Internet shares. Remember Mikey, who ate Pop Rocks and Coke and he exploded? Or when Bubble Yum gum had spider eggs in it? A lot of us fell for it! It was the talk among friends. I was not a Pop Rocks fan before the myth so it didn’t affect me that much but I liked Bubble Yum gum and I wouldn’t chew it after the story came out. Someone created the lies, and they spread around faster than weeds in a field.

It’s easy to allow this disease to take root and grow too. We make excuses to justify our judgment, usually based on ignorance. We don’t want to be afraid, so we create a story to protect ourselves. As a kid, I took a bus trip to see the Radio City Rockettes Christmas Spectacular show with my mother and siblings. I had to go to the bathroom. My mother told me to be careful in the stall, so no one tried to grab my legs. I don’t think I could pee after that! Just the idea that someone would put their arms under the stall and try to grab me ended that need. Was that true? No! Did I believe it? Heck, yeah! I was a kid who didn’t know any better.

Today with the Internet, there’s no excuse for ignorance. We can find any information to learn the truth. Sure, there are a lot of lies and junk on the World Wide Web, but you can find the truth if you search enough. I use the theory that if two or more reputable websites have the same information, I am fairly sure it’s the truth. I don’t believe things just because someone said it. I do research. It’s so easy to do! We have a computer in our pockets.

I hope you can cure yourself of this disease if you have it. I’d be a liar if I said I’m totally cured. It takes effort and being vigilant not to fall prey to the ease and the seemingly good feeling you get having camaraderie with others who feel and think the same way as you do. This makes it difficult sometimes to realize we need to change and cure this disease. Being open-minded is a blessing, not a curse. It’ll cure even the toughest and deep-seated disease of ignorance.

Thank you for reading. Do you have any learned ignorance you can cure?

To Curing Yourself,

Francesca