During one of my literature classes this week, we discussed whether or not parents should have a say in what books are being shelved in school libraries. I’ve always found this question quite ridiculous, because, though parents may have kids, that does not make them experts in children’s development. There are people who dedicate their entire lives to studying what children should and shouldn't be reading, what good material looks like for kids, and how to best present information to children. People dedicate their entire lives to this study, so why all of the sudden do people think that they know better than these experts? 

This was the question that raised in my mind that then led to a line of thinking about why everyone nowadays thinks they need to be an expert in everything – or worse, why they think they already are. It's an interesting phenomenon and something you see happening throughout everything; whether that be proper medical treatments for certain ailments, or nutrition and health sciences and the best diet plan for you! A large part of this has to do with the idea that we can learn everything because of our access to technology. The development of these technologies, and our access to information, is a good thing. I'm not trying to dispute that or change that by any means, however, I do think that it is important to notice that you aren't an expert on something just because you've read an article on it. You do not know everything about vaccines or global politics because you simply have not dedicated your life to the study of these fields. And that’s okay. I think people nowadays are really uncomfortable with not knowing things. Which is unfortunate because this is how communities and relationships are built. You don't have to know everything because there are people around you who do know these things. I'm lucky enough to have friends who are not all English majors; some are biology majors, some are education majors, some are urban planning majors, and others are film and art history majors. My friends all have different subjects and the other people in my life contain these differences as well. My mom is a psychologist and my dad is a property developer and my brother wants to be a sports medicine doctor. Together, we have a plethora of knowledge and our combined knowledge leads us to being one whole community. One that's able to help and pick up the pieces where others lack. It's important to not know everything. 

It's important to not be skilled in everything, because if you were, then what's the point of talking to anyone? What's the point of trying to learn other people's skills and getting to know what other people are good at? What's the point of learning if you already know everything? And we need to learn to grow.