Not long ago, I ran into my nemesis — Jesse James Davis. Maybe you’ve heard of him. He’s the singer/songwriter/guitarist with the golden vocal cords and a name not unlike mine. He also thinks it’s the height of hilarity to pretend to be me.
In a scene eerily similar to the final duel in The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, our eyes narrowed when we spotted each other across the room.
“Davis,” I hissed, my voice like gravel and cut glass.
“Davis,” he echoed, his lips pulled into a tight frown.
Well, that might have happened, or we might have both yelled “Jesse Davis” and hugged each other. However the initial moment played out, we eventually ended up in a conversation about the strange hesitance people have for admitting that they don’t know something.
One might think that I would be especially susceptible, with knowing and writing about things making up a significant chunk of my job description, but honestly I think it’s my willingness to admit the gaps in my knowledge that makes me suited to this peculiar gig. Who wants a journalist who thinks they know everything already? I’m of the opinion that the world is older and odder and more mysterious than I can ever fully comprehend, so any discerning person’s best option is to be endlessly curious and willing to admit when they don’t know enough to comment.
I bring this up because there’s little going on in my personal life at the moment except nursing my still-rehabilitating cat, trying to get my and my fiancée’s cars to the mechanic, and babysitting my nephew. I’m not sure I can tease a column out of those issues. As far as the hot news goes, well, I’m not going to present myself as a foreign policy expert. (See where I’m going with this now?)
For a weekly paper in Memphis, we have the tragic situation in Ukraine covered as well as I think we can at the moment, and anything I might add would only do our readers a disservice. For one of the local implications of the conflict, see Bruce VanWyngarden’s “At Large” column on page 9, and to hear from someone who actually lived in Ukraine for a while, be sure to read Lyn Wright’s excellent column in “The Last Word.” It adds perspective I could never hope to.
Yes, it can be embarrassing to admit to a gap in knowledge. Adding to the potential embarrassment, it seems that social media has conditioned us to feel we have to respond to whatever the latest trending topic is. If we don’t speak out, are we complicit? In some instances, certainly, but rushing in guns a-blazing when we lack the context to understand the situation can end up doing more harm than good.
So, in the interest of using this space to do as much good as I feel I can, I’m (hopefully) setting a good example by saying that sometimes I have no idea what the hell is going on. Say it with me, won’t you? It can be quite liberating, really.
Sometimes I have no idea what is going on.
