an essay on changing ones perception of ignorance,Old men,and pickup trucks
Growing up in the "Northeast area" of Kansas City,Missouri,I was always of the impression that other areas were hip and KC was sort of out of it. Even though they wrote songs like "Everything's Up to Date In KC" it wasn't so up to date. As soon as I could, I set off in search of intelligence,which took me to places like Tucson,Scottsdale,Omaha,Sioux City,even my home town of Braymer,Missouri (886 residents)and finally Las Vegas,Nevada. I thought that anyplace other than KC would be where all of the knowledge of mankind existed. I drove cars that showed you were hip like Mercedes,Rolls Royce,Buicks,Oldsmobiles,and even Volkswagens. I even tried smoking a pipe for a while because that exuded class and thought but couldn't do it because I kept coughing. I traveled to places like Paris,London,Munich,Tokyo,Singapore,Canton,Hong Kong,Caracas,Mexico City,Rio,Tel Aviv,Moscow,Prague,Warsaw,Dublin and I didn't find it there either.
Then at age 50,it occurred to me where intelligence is. It is driving an old pickup,one that doesn't have the electronic ignition but starts regularly and runs smoothly. It is hanging out with your best friends,wherever they are,whether Roads Missouri,population 9 people,or Los Angeles. It is learning to drink beer at 5 p.m. while standing alongside your friends pickup truck along a road watching coyotes. It is eating wild mushrooms,lightly cooked in butter,over fresh pasta. It is laughing with your kids about something you read. It is listening to the Jefferson Airplane singing "White Bird" at 11 p.m. while driving back home from a gathering of friends at a dance,sweaty with the good sweat of dancing with folks who matter in your life. It is being from a town of 886 people where everyone knows you and old wise men sitting on the public benches on the 2 block downtown are treated with reverence. It doesn't matter exactly where you live; it matters how you live your life. And so,my goal at 50 is to get my life back into the right track...how did I at age 18 so badly mistake success and intelligence?
