Have you ever noticed how some of the most ordinary experiences and observations sometimes provoke unexpectedly profound contemplation?
Persevering through the act of removing a sweatshirt in spite of severe mobility restrictions reveals certain previously unrecognized benefits of disability. Attending an anticipated spiritual gathering to help answer unresolved questions only leads to other, deeper questions. A radio story on memory loss sparks unsettling introspection concerning the vulnerability of the mind and one's place in the world. Nostalgia for the blessing of routine family gatherings reawakens the recognition of how much we take for granted and how suddenly that can change. Even the dreadful duty of end-of-life planning enables the opportunity to experience novelty, humor, and irony in surprising and poignant ways.
In this way the promising buds of simple ideas quickly blossom into dynamic forays for truth and answers, explanations, justifications. Has our individual and collective preoccupation with touchscreens reached the point that we ought to start taking more seriously its negative effects on ourselves and society? Can we appreciate the role that certain unsupervised childhood experiences have played in shaping our personality without in the process compromising our rational and moral integrity?
If the themes and notions explored in the essays that comprise
Tell Me Something I Don't Know don't challenge you to think more deeply about your life and the presuppositions that support many of the beliefs you take for granted, their effort will have been in vain. But if they do, you will undoubtedly be the better for it, as will the world with which you are sure to interact differently thereafter.
