Ignorance and Experience

The old proverb is that ignorance is bliss. I'm not sure I believe that. First off, I don't think ignorance is ever a good thing. Secondly, I feel like more people get hurt by things they are ignorant about versus enjoyment from them. I mean, if you don't know a stove is hot and put your hand on it, that isn't exactly a blissful moment. Instead, I think "Lack of first-hand experience with bad things is bliss". (Admittedly, my proverb is a little wordier.) Think about it like this: I know a stove can burn me, but at the same time I don't need to stick my hand onto a hot stove to make sure of it. I know enough to keep my distance and by doing that I should be fine. Knowing enough to keep my distance gives me bliss. I bring this up because I find that I worry about things I never thought about before happening to me more after they have happened for the first time. I never worried about my emergency brake causing me to fail my inspection before I bought this car because, even though I knew it was technically possible, I'd never heard of it happening to anyone. Now I actually expect it to happen before I leave my house.

I'll give you another example: A couple years back my dad and I were driving along in his truck when the tread blew off his tire. We were fine and it was a relatively harmless and quick fix, but it was still a pain in the ass. The bigger issue from that day is now I find myself wondering if my tire is going to explode whenever I hit a rough patch of road, even though my dad's tires were old and I just put new ones on my truck less than a year ago. You see, before being in a vehicle when the tire popped I didn't know what it sounded like or how the car would handle. Now I know what to look out for. I always knew tires could explode like that, but I never had the first hand experience. All of a sudden I have another thing to be aware of when I'm driving, which is annoying. And it brings us to today.

I was driving down the highway, stuck behind a couple of 18-wheelers. They were driving at matching speeds in the first and second lanes. I had been stuck behind them for a while and, as everyone knows happens when you drive behind the same one vehicle for too long, they were starting to piss me off. But, I couldn't get around them because to one side of me the cars were stuck in the same predicament and on the other every car behind me was getting the chance to merge over first. Not to mention my exit was only a couple miles ahead, so I decided to just suck it up.

Finally, the 18-wheeler to my right took his exit and I got a clearing. I slid into the right lane and picked up enough speed to pass. Just as I got equal with the cab of the remaining 18-wheeler I heard a loud bang. Because of my previous experience, I immediately assumed it was my tire. It wasn't - the 18-wheeler's tire had exploded, sending rubber all over the road while the tread landed where my truck had just been. (Keep in mind my windows were up, my A/C was blasting and my stereo was cranked and it was still so loud I thought my tire was the one that had popped.) I have to say, it was a bit of tremendous timing. So, really, I think there can only be two morals to this story: 1. Just because something happened once doesn't mean it will happen again, so stop worrying about it and 2. Some times I have to drive faster than the speed limit so I can pass cars and occasionally it's a good thing that I do. Massachusetts State Police, I just want you to keep that in mind.