A few days ago, I had a little conversation with a person I met in a beauty salon. She was confused about what Islamic boarding school she would send her son to. She said that she wanted her son to get good Islamic education from a good boarding school.
Because I only know the names and locations of some famous boarding schools and don't understand any details of them, I only mentioned those schools' names and little information about them from some persons who claimed that they had studied there.
She replied that she was skeptical about those schools because she heard that the students living there experienced much discomfort, such as limited meal, bed bugs, limited number of bathrooms, and so on.
From what I try to understand, maybe she belongs to the know-it-all category. She loved to talk much about the topic that she didn't quite understand. Also, maybe she thought that I knew more than her and she didn't want that.
She looked a little bit impatient when listening to me. The way she responded was making me feel bad about my own statement.
Know-it-alls like to make their statement formulation sound like a fact. For example, when a car accident happens, they make a sudden concluding statement like: 'The driver is careless.' They disregard any other possibilities such as car engine breakdown, sudden body paralysis, distraction from other vehicles, or poor road facilities.
But of course, there are always some lessons behind any situation. Know-it-alls make me know that I don't know. When listening to a person with a background of language study giving an opinion about political situations in his country, it makes me learn that talking about something beyond my field is absurd. I know myself that I don't know much about politics. So I will not share what I have in mind about politics to public.
Know-it-alls encourage me to dig deeper about things that I am really interested in. For example, when they say that movie A is more qualified than movie B, I myself will check those two movies. I get the benefits of entertainment and life lessons from the movies.
Last but not least, know-it-alls make me aware of the danger of wrong interpretation. Their desire to not control their words prevents me from saying without some previous thoughts.
So, why don't we become a learn-it-all instead of a know-it-all? Let's learn thoroughly about anything of our interest so that when it comes to stating opinions, ours are well-researched ones.
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