Mr. Know It All

Many of you must have heard Kelly Clarkson's hit-song 'Mr. Know It all'. Well, it is one of my favorite tracks. Not that I listened to it every now and then, rather, she is one of my favorite artists as her songs are quite empowering. I could go on rattling about how good she is as a singer and how amazing her songs are but for now let's just leave it at that.

My focus is more on the song title mentioned earlier. The song always brings back memories of a friend I had. In short, he could be nicknamed with the title of the song. For further and easy reference we shall call him Mr. KIA. At first, Mr. KIA seemed like a Wikipedia web portal. He had answers and solutions to everything, so much so that if anyone put forth a different answer, he would resolutely object it and insult the other. It was actually just an insulting statement that was passed. Everyone began to look up to him and regard him as one who had the certified information. It felt as if he was greater than Google itself. However, his rise to the top was meant by a huge fall. The fall itself was not sudden but gradual. It began when he started presenting views contradictory to his own. Further, he would begin defending himself against opposing views (most of the opposing views were his past views). Soon he found himself pitted against none other than himself.

There is an important lesson we learn here. Though we are/or have been all seekers of knowledge, we've got to realize that the search for knowledge moves simultaneously with a sense of humility. Accept your ignorance (or avidya in Indian philosophy) to some things and don't harp on being a KIA.