Know Foolin’

Proverbs 1:7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Have you ever encountered a know-it-all? Someone who has an answer for everything; who can’t be told anything; who adds corrections to whatever anyone else says?

There’s even a meme for this: “Well, ackshually.” It’s for whenever people jump into a conversation and interrupt the speaker(s) to say, “Well, actually…” and then go on to add their “knowledge” on the topic.

I think we get annoyed by this because nobody likes to be interrupted, either when speaking or when listening. Also, nobody likes being corrected, and all too often, the “correction” is either unnecessary or flat out wrong!

I remember several conversations in a particular context with a group of friends. In these conversations, the same person would always interrupt and correct. Sadly, he always began by actually saying the words, “Well, actually…” when doing this – without a hint of self-awareness. And nearly every time, his “Well actually…” was wrong because he misunderstood the context. He was jumping in on a conversation he wasn’t actually a part of.

Nobody likes a know-it-all. Know-it-all’s come off as smug, patronizing, and entirely lacking in social awareness.

I know that, at times, especially when I was younger, I have come across as a know-it-all. Every time, I hated myself for doing it. Over time, I learned largely to control the impulse to add something to every conversation to prove my worth. I didn’t need to do it, but there was something lacking in me that I wanted to satisfy.

Nobody likes a know-it-all because there is no such thing as a know-it-all. There is nobody, dead or alive, who knows it all. Socrates was one of the greatest thinkers the world has ever known. He said, “The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.” Confucius said, “To know what you know and what you do not know, that is true knowledge.” The book of Proverbs says that “fools despise wisdom and instruction.”

I don’t want to be a fool. I want to keep learning. I want to listen more than I talk, and question more than I assert.

Lord, help me not to behave like a know-it-all. Help me to trust in Your Word above all else. May I keep learning for as long as I keep breathing. Amen.