121. I Don’t Know

In a world where everyone feels like they have the definitive truth, Nora reminds us that it’s nice to admit when you just don’t know.

Transcripts may not appear in their final version and are subject to change.

INTRO MUSIC

A very flattering part of being an adult is that before children are convinced that you know nothing, they believe you know everything. We have the full spectrum of child development under our roof right now and I am consistently humbled by a 14-year-old asking “you know this song?” When the song was on the charts when I was their age, and by a 4-year-old asking me all kinds of questions that I just do not know the answer to. Things like,

“Mom, how does science know that things exist?”

“Mom, do you know what happens when a dog eats a worm?”

“Mom, when I was inside you how did you know I was not a demon?”

That last one is a real stumper. I mean, I hoped he wasn’t a demon, but did I know? For absolutely certain? Of course not! He gave me horrible heartburn! He was only happy if I was eating McDonad’s french fries and coca cola classic! 

Sometimes, I do make up answers for the sake of getting him to sleep before 9pm, I’ll guesstimate how much he loves me, or stumble through an explanation of what it truly means to have a soul, and he’ll eventually find satisfaction in the answer.

But sometimes, if we aren’t nearing the end of a week-long day, I’ll get down on my knees, look him in the eye and say, “I don’t know…let’s find out.” In the rosy version of parenting, he would stay right next to me while I did the research, just as invested in finding the truth as I am. In reality, he immediately loses interest and walks away just as I open my computer. 

It is hard for some of us to say when we don’t know things, especially in a world that values Hot Takes and Big Opinions. When I say us, I’m just trying to project my own flaws onto my audience, but maybe you can relate? 

Maybe you grew up in a house where you were just supposed to know things that nobody ever explained, somehow meant to intuit the meaning of the world around you without any instruction, to read the minds of adult before your brain was even fully developed. Maybe you  work at a place where you’re expected to have the answer to questions that haven’t even been asked and solutions to problems that don’t even exist yet? 

Maybe you have been caught up in the whirl of the internet rage machine, where black and white thinking and quick wit beats nuance to a pulp.

Maybe you are just a person who, like many of us, is learning that aliens have always been real and that the universe and every person we meet is filled with mysteries that we haven’t even imagined yet. 

I don’t know. 

I don’t know.

I don’t know.

And what a relief that is.

We don’t know everything. We don’t have to. But if we want to…we can try to find out.

OUTRO MUSIC

CREDITS