Experts in Everything, Knowing Little

The other day, I heard someone scoff at their friend for not knowing about Sudan's Darfur Conflict. Because of this conflict, Sudan has been wrought with war, genocide, and large population displacement. The whole situation has been, in a word, horrific.

But what caught my particular attention was that the guy was belittled for his ignorance about a place on the other side of the world that most people can't find on a map. Why? 

It's certainly excellent to know of injustice and then work toward correcting it as well as it's within our power to do so, but it seems like there's something else going on there. There seems to be an implicit expectation that he should know about the issue—that it's his responsibility to know.

Expected to know all.

But where does that stop? Can someone be an expert in everything? 

Can they know the intricacies of Brexit and Darfur, of the Iran Nuclear Deal and Edward Snowden's leaks, of the American Civil Rights or women's rights moments in all their forms across the world? 

Can someone have enough information to adequately understand the context of just these few situations and the culture with which they come and then (if so) do they have what is needed to take action against those things. Not just talk about them, but help when possible. Are these people doing this?

I'm not so sure. 

It's wonderful to have the ability to know about other cultures and countries and politics and histories, etc. But there is so much information available to anyone interested in knowing. By all means, if you know a great deal of that information, that is great. But the quantity of information available makes it literally impossible to know everything. 

Understanding what's local.

There is so much information available, we should be circumspect enough to evaluate whether or not we know of the issues around us. What needs exist in our communities? Beyond that, who are the people in our communities?

When we are plugged into this, we have a higher likelihood of knowing what deep needs there are around us. But when we're plugged into all that's happening in the web, we cast a wide net for our information learning about many different things but so infrequently is that knowledge whole. So much (worthwhile) time and effort go into knowing something well, particularly about a culture that's not our own. 

Use knowledge with wisdom.

So by all means, let's learn what we can about the injustices of this world so we can do our best to eradicate them. 

But by all means, let's don't do that at the expense of the injustices and kindnesses around us, for they are the ones we can be experts in...without even having to research on the internet.