Would it be OK if I said …. ‘I don’t know’?
In the story about Adam and Eve, we have that rather delicious-looking fruit that didn’t turn out to be so palatable after all. I don’t think Adam and Eve ate it because they were hungry. Hec no, there was plenty of other fruit that was available for the plucking.
No, they desired to have all the answers. The knowledge of good and evil. And they got to know all about good and evil in their sons. With the selfless goodness of Abel and the evil of Cain, who slaughtered Abel in a jealous rage.
It’s tempting when you are first starting to have the shopfront of knowing all the answers. But as time goes on, you realise that actually you don’t know it all and your shopfront facade, far from looking smart, shiny and sleek, is actually a bit dusty and tired.
Some of the most fruitful conversations in my later years have been when I have answered a tricky question with
“Goodness gracious! What a jolly good question. I don’t know the answer to that, but I was just about to put the kettle on and perhaps you might care to join me over a cuppa, and together we might learn from each other and about each other”.
It’s OK not to have all the answers at your fingertips and not to rattle silly smooth-sounding phrases with lightning speed and 100% accuracy; in fact, I’m a bit suss on these types. I’d much rather a gentle pondering, massaged with silence, punctuated only with the crunch of a chocolate biscuit and the slurp of a cuppa.
The honesty when we respond with ‘I don’t know’ is always more to be desired than the voluptuous fruit of the quick, glib and easy from Mr Know It All.