Is Ignorance Really Bliss?

My question is, how can anything with the term "lack of knowledge" in the definition be considered bliss? I would actually like to argue that ignorance can actually harm you...

When listening to an early twenty-something speak earlier this week, I realized that sometimes our ignorance can blind us to the point to the point that it harms us. Life really isn't as black and white as we are brought up to believe...it even shocks me that I would say this given that I have been accused a time or two of being too black and white. And, in much of life's circumstances, it is all about the black and white. But, then there are those other circumstances...

Curve balls as I will call them...the kind that blindside you at 4pm on some idle Tuesday (a little Baz Luhrmann for you fans out there...if there are actually any fans out there!) Its these curve balls that shake you to your very core, make you rethink what you believe. Its these curve balls that make you realize that sometimes, just sometimes life has to be lived in the gray.

The reason for this? If life was only black and white we would have given up on all our relationships (family and friends) long ago. We wouldn't realize that sometimes people are just "that dumb" and that mistakes happen. We wouldn't know how to forgive. We wouldn't know how to look inside ourselves and learn to look past the gray areas in each others lives and still love each other for who they are.

When I think of this twenty-something's ignorance (it's funny that I label her this, given that I too fit into this category), I realize that ignorance is definitely not always bliss. Sometimes ignorance can lead to such disappointment in life that we can hardly get over it. Sometimes ignorance causes us to make decisions that really are stupid. Sometimes it is better to open ourselves up to the gray areas of life...to allow that brackish water to pour over our hearts, minds and souls. Yes, it will cause us to grow up. And yes, sometimes it will cause us to be harder because of it. But, it also will allow us to be more understanding of others, to more easily love and to more easily forgive. And sometimes, just sometimes, I think that makes the gray areas worth it.