There is something irritating when I talk to some young people. Before I complete my sentence, I was told, “I know. I know. I know,” as if one “I-know” is not enough to shut my mouth. It actually means “I know it so you may shut up now.” Very often, if I ask to repeat what I say or what I am going to say, a face with a moronic look is the answer.

The interesting part is I find it easy to get ideas across to the more attentive small children. It seems the bigger the worse. The most annoying case that I have encountered is with a 25-year-old. This is my explanation of this phenomenon.

Small children know they don’t know and thus should give all ears to adults, while as they grow up and move from the stage of knowing-nothing to that of knowing-something, they think they know everything and act out as if they knew everything and do not need to be told any more.

Sometimes you think it a good thing that they increase their knowledge with the increase in age. Yet, it does not make me feel good when they do not increase in wisdom and a little knowledge only increases their arrogance. I remember a saying goes like this — you begin to become aware of your ignorance only after you have become learned in the field. Another saying goes, the real ignorant person thinks he knows everything while the real learned person knows his limitation.

Such a heavy topic for today! Hopefully it is heavy enough for the young adult’s ear.