If I believed for one moment that I could go back in time and change the way everything has turned out you can bet your sorry little hide I'd do it. I'm not ashamed of who I am, what I've become or who I will be, but I am ashamed of what I know. Knowledge is a powerful thing and it is the deciding line between pass or fail, yes or no, good or bad, go to jail or pass go, win or lose, make or break. I'm not a harlot, a librarian, a scholar, or an orphan. I've never seen true love nor faught off a band of robbers. I've never gallivanted off into the desert like Jesse James on horse back nor seen a typhoon destroy my whole villige, my whole family and my life. I've never been raped, beaten or tied to a chair and suffucated to withen an inch of my life. But I have lost my innocence. Though I've never known true love I have known love. I have known a man to lie about anything to get something. I have known a child to hide behind a mask so others won't tease her. I've felt pain beyond which you could never imagine. I've lived through it all and survived. This knowledge I have, though it has made me who I am today, will one day be my down fall. If, somehow, I could change history and stop my self from learning something then I would go back in time and stop myself from learning that which caused the loss of my innocence. All the pain and hatred for others in this world will be forgotten. Once again I will be a child. I will see the fearies, the sprites and the nymphs. I will look at everything through rose colored glasses. All the prejudice and racism and acts of rape will be forgotten. No longer will I constantly worry about whether I will die tomorrow, in two weeks, or in two seconds. I will no longer have to close my eyes while riding through the city for I see no hatred only equality. I will no longer have to worry about every little thing from what I will say to what they think. All my worries will be non-existant. I will finally be able to live my life without the weight of knowledge on my shoulder. I will no longer be weighed down with what I know and wondering if what I do is the right thing. These chains that bind me will rust and break and soon my body will be free. I will once again walk around with the proud gait of childlike innocence. I will once again be as I was. I will longer be the scared little girl hiding from the world but the sword wielding daughter of a knight ready to take on anything. I will once again be able to stand up and say " I am smart, intelligent and do not deserve to be walked on by all that pass by ". I have lived a life of torment, pain and dire wishes of death. I have experienced the touch of cold steel to soft skin, warm liquid to cold body, and blind hatred to innocent mind. If the powers that be honored me with the gift of changing my past I would choose ignorance over knowledge. For knowledge is always at the center of our down fall.1
Author notes
This topic and it's questions were given to me by my philosophy teacher as a topic for a term paper. We were given various questions and told to pick one. I chose this one because it's something I've always wished I could do. What would you do?
What's your opinion? If you could go back in time and unlearn anything what would it be? Would you choos ignorance or knowledge? Why?
Comments
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thoughtful
Please take me to task if my assumption is wrong, but i get the feeling from reading you're piece is that you went through some of the things personally. I don't think that you can separate the two, as they go hand in hand without a positive there could not be a negative.
I don't think that a person can unlearn anything unless he/she has a total lobotomy, and if that was the solution, then that person would be incapable of ever gaining even a modicum of knowledge ever.
Don't know if this makes any sense, i don't claim to be a thinker or a philosopher,it just seems to make sense to me.
beginning: 4, language: 4, plot: 3, ending: 4, dialog: 4, characters: 1.
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Pretty good except that I would still choose knowledge
I would choose knowledge. It is true that with knowledge comes unwanted things. However; knowledge is responsibility simply because that knowledge is power, and thats not my opinion...its fact. Forgetting the bad in the past is good as long as you know what you have learned from it will better yourself moraly. If I were to better myself moraly, I would also use my experiece to help others. Its what most people do without realizing it. Ignorance leeds to many negitive things. With ignorance you dont see truth in the world, which is a big factor in learning as you grow older. A term might be, "A reality check". I applaud your effort on this essay. The essay itself is poweful and a great addition to my "keep in mind" list =P
beginning: 3, language: 3, plot: 5, ending: 4, dialog: 4, characters: 3.
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Brilliant!
I love the writing style- insightful, passionate and honest. This one seeks the truth and has no fear in finding it. I am truly moved and inspired by the authors words. The beginning draws you into the story from an empathic and inquisitive perspective- from the first line you are given the sense of an uncompromisingly self assured philisophical stance that suggests that knowledge of atrocity is the reason it continues to exist and that ignorance of atrocity preserves innocence. It raises many questions. Is innocence's loss inevitable? Is knowlege only ever used in the interests of self gain, power and domination? Why must peace, love and equality be percieved as a utopic ideal within a world of injustice, hatred and war? Why must people, like the author, make impassioned pleas for sanity in amongst the chaotic throng of human suffering? Surely we should all have learned from the mistakes of our predecessors?... and so many more.
I bet the philosophy teacher was well pleased with this offering. Well Done!
To answer the question though: If I could unlearn anything- I wouldn't. I'd be too scared I'd lose a part of 'me'- surely we are the sum of everything we've ever learned? Maybe we can reclaim our innocence through knowlege- once we all realise the folly of handing responsibility of our thought and action to others. I would choose ignorance AND knowledge- same as good and evil; right and wrong, etc- we need it all to learn what we need to most.
beginning: 4, language: 5, plot: 5, ending: 5.
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