And these people must know a lot, because they’re always making sure everyone else knows about it. They’re always talking about how they do this or they do that, or (more often) they’ve done this or done that already. And really well, to boot.
Not only are they telling everyone else what they’ve done, but they’re also giving incredibly useful advice on what everyone else should be doing. They’re busy writing up top ten lists of all the things that people need to do, or all the ways other people have already stuffed things up.
I wish I could be like these people. I’m in awe of these people. They know so much, and they’re so willing to share this knowledge around. Unfortunately, there’s no way I could possibly do this, because I’m not really an expert on anything.
I suppose I could try. I could try to write out a top ten list about…something or other. But who would pay attention? Who would possibly want to follow my list of directions, especially as I’d pretty much be making them up as I went along? There just doesn’t seem to be any point at all.
It’s hard work being inexpert in a world of experts. When people know so much, and are so keen to let you know about it, you barely want to open your mouth or put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard). You’re always way too afraid to reveal your ignorance, and your complete lack of expertise about anything much.
I suppose I could say that I’m an expert in lack of expertise. I could write out a top ten list of how not to be an expert. But nobody would want to read that, would they?
Posted by Jonathan Gould and tagged as