What Do You Know?

It is a good question and we might not have a good answer. We know our name and our address and sometimes our phone number. We know most of our passwords and our wedding anniversary(s). If pressed, we’ll remember the name of our children and our social security number should be tattooed on our forehead, but we don’t know where we put our keys.

The real point of this session is conversations.

We reference what we know to turn conversations into relations. How many times have you started singing the song playing on the jukebox and others join in too? It is all for a good laugh even if you don’t remember all the words. You have acknowledged a shared reference.

The same thing happens when you can quote a line from a movie or a television show and others around you know what you are speaking of. This can extend and even expand the conversation to different points of view or recollections.

Those who assume themselves as well educated will expound on phrases from poetry or novels with references to authors or composers. Fewer will remember that than what the latest pop song is or celebrity tabloid trash.

Yet you get into conversations where no one else responds.

Are you too far afield for others to understand? Remember people feel comfortable around those who talk-the-talk.

What of those who do not understand the references?

I, for one, have never seen an episode of ‘Walking Dead’. I’ve not followed ‘Star Wars’ after #1 or have no idea who Claire Danes is or care what Kim Kardashian is doing and with whom. I have no idea who won ‘American Idol’ or ‘ Miss Universe’ or ‘Country Music Awards’ but I do know who won the ‘Super Bowl’ if I think about it. Without reading the NYT Top #10 books or listening to the Billboards’ latest hits, I am unaware of popular culture.

Does that make me any less fortunate than a Philly rapper or a Louisiana slide blues player or a guqin player from China or a Kathakali dancer from India?

Our personal experiences along with our exposure to literature and teachings can learn from others without bias or judgment.

Perhaps we can open our ears and minds to listen?