Is Ignorance Really Bliss?

{Golden Blindfold by Stacey Previn}

Blissful ignorance has been a topic on my mind a great deal as of late. There are nights, like this one, where I find my mind wandering to the person I was just a few years ago. My worries, my dreams, my ambitions - they are all so different now. A few years ago I was concerned with the American Dream, the right job, the right spouse, the house and 2.5 kids. What color curtains should I hang? Did you hear about so and so? Shame, isn't it?

Today however, the Dream seems a sham to me. What was important to me then seems - not even trivial - but either purposely unattainable or an overly pretty package to keep a person's mind from wandering into the wrong field of questions. A facade. A mind controlling drug wrapped in a pretty little pill - fed to us from birth. We, no I was addicted to the daydream.

But I was happy, was I not? I would argue with my husband about the world, history, and politics. I was certain that he was determined to be unhappy by focusing on a few, small wrong doings, that life as we knew it at that time was quite grand and the world was an opportunity waiting to be taken.

Then, like a bad dream from nightmarish rehab stints, I awoke. Only to find that gasp! my husband had been right all along. Only to find that the American Dream wasn't for everyone - not any more. There had been a time in this country when it was true, but no more.

So I became active, in my own way. Slowly at first, then picking up the pace. Caution became daring, and is becoming ever more so. Yet, there are nights like this one where I wonder how much happier I would be if I hadn't opened myself up to the truth? What would I be worrying about now? Granted, I still do worry about such life-things as planting my fall garden, potty training, and finding a pair of jeans that fit just so. Life hasn't stopped after all. Only now, it occurs to me on a regular basis that this life is not guaranteed to me. Current events have brought angst ridden nights, uncomfortable familiarity with words, terms, and legal-ease, the under shadowing effect that a great mystery novel has to offer - the climax, the dropping of the other shoe as it were. The idea that dreams can and will be shattered.

I had never thought, a few years ago, about tasks such as getting a passport. If I wanted one, I'd get one. But now, the idea is frightening, worrisome. I used to carry my ID with me at all times, but now I only carry it when I'm legally required to, and how long before your ID will be required at all times? "Papers please".

How nice it would be to not be worried. How blissful it would be to not get knot in my stomach when I hear the news, or results of governmental votes and bills.

How blissful that is, until the bubble is forcefully popped and I'm left standing with nothing and nowhere to go.

Information, it is powerful. It is no where near as powerful however, as the person who wields it with a sense of duty and integrity. A person who has the courage of conviction and depth of character to do what needs to be done, even if the end result of said actions don't look promising for that person.

So to ignorance I say my peace.