gatorade sickness

i don't profess to know much
but what i do know
is enough to get me by
it's enough to get me through
a typical day
in the life of myself
and, perhaps, someone else's
life
though, i'm not sure
i have my doubts
a good deal of my friends know
a good deal more than i ever will
and i'm fine with this
though, it's a bit discouraging
i see the way they pull seemingly
random facts and obscure place names
and obscure words
and obscure concepts
out of nowhere
their backpockets, maybe
and it's enough to make me want to
devour all the useless information i can
get my grubby little hands on
images and images and images
and sensations
and images and information
i'm a glutton for it
i want to understand string theory and
incorporate its tenants into my everyday
conversation
but, then again, i like what i have
like i said, it's enough to get me by
and there's no one i really need to impress with trivia
what i need is a better way of communicating
myself and my views and my philosophies
and i don't need the views or philosophies of
others, greater men of greater intellect, to corrupt
any conclusions i might naturally come to myself
and relate in my own unique way
a lot has been made of america's propensity for
embracing ignorance
as a source of empowerment
we don't know and we don't want to know
in some cases, this is absolutely sickening
we make mistakes because we simply don't know
the other alternatives or better solutions
we turn a blind eye to any idea we feel too lazy and/or
too unwilling to wrap our minds around
regardless of its merit
we shy away from controversial subjects
dinner-table taboos
because we made our minds up a long time ago
on the matter and we hate to be wrong
that's fine, i guess, but at some point we need to start thinking
deeper about things
if it's too unbearable to consider options posed by observing history
or science or painful concepts introduced by painful personalities
if it's too damned bothersome to confront these opposing forces
then we need to take it upon ourselves to arrive at the same conclusions
with the limited knowledge and understanding we do have
and that's what it's all about, i think, but i don't know
and part of me doesn't care
it's fleeting, really
and there i go preaching again