It always throws me for a loop when I discover something that I should have known all along. For example, I’m mortified to admit that I’ve been spelling President Obama’s first name incorrectly during the entire course of his administration. Someone finally pointed that out to me the other day. I really have no excuse.
I try to comfort myself with the fact that I’ve encountered much worse examples of swiss cheese knowledge. I once met a woman my age who had never heard of the Beatles. Had she been living under a rock? Even people in outer Mongolia have heard of the Beatles. And I crossed paths with a full grown man who thought the sun revolved around the earth. How is that even possible in this day and age? I bet he’ll vote for Donald Trump.
And the older I get, the more I lose touch with pop culture. That’s to be expected, I suppose. But there is a basic font of information that everyone should be able to access. For example, the earth isn’t flat. Fruit will eventually rot. The sky is usually blue (unless you live in Seattle, where it’s usually grey).
The thing is (yes, my favorite missing commenter, there’s always a thing), when you don’t know something you should know, you aren’t aware of it. That makes me worry about what I’m missing. What basic knowledge am I somehow functioning without?
All I can say is that it’s a huge relief that my heart and lungs know how to do their thing without any input from me. Oh, and sorry, Barack.
The View from a Drawbridge 
Hate to tell you how old I was before I found out that beetles have wings.
That makes me feel better. 🙂
I have had the same reflection concerning knowledge level. Every new thing I learn shows me how much more there is to discover. All I can do is keep moving forward with it but sometimes it can be quite overwhelming.
Indeed! Maybe we both need to reframe it–look at it as untapped potential for expanded worldviews. Or something. 🙂
You spelled president O’bamma’s first name wrong?
🙂 Ha.
yup