July 8 | IYKYK

There was a time when you didn’t know.

Even if you were a prodigy. Even if your talent ‘came natural.’ Even if you took to your field or craft like an alcoholic fish takes to a bath tub of booze. 

Even if you learned everything you know in one second, one tenth of a second, there is still a before that is distinct from the now.

And with that division come sa responsibility. A debt owed to a universe that somehow found a way to shape you into what you are today. 

People talk all the time about learning lessons from history. But do we even learn lessons from our own history—our own past and problems? Can you remember what it felt like to be on the outside of your craft? To feel overwhelmed by the details? To think, of something now common place for you, “I could never do that”? 

There are others who feel that way now. 

Often they’re in our way. They’re annoying, slow, and fail to grasp what is obvious. They slow down the whole system and create more problems than they solve.

And you owe them a life-debt.

So “if you know, you know” is missing the final clause—if you know, you know what to do.… Read the rest