The ignorance of others ....

Why must the ignorance of others be such a hindrance on my life?

Some say ignorance is bliss .... and maybe in some cases it is. Knowledge is something we can never get enough of, yet something we can never know all of. I would define ignorance not as the lack of knowledge: because we all suffer from that, but the lack of necessary knowledge. The knowledge one needs depends on what needs you have for knowledge. For example, a doctor (hopefully) has the knowledge of medicine and the proper treatments for diseases, as well as how to diagnose various disease. If this doctor doesn't know who painted a painting hanging on a wall .... that's ignorance to art; however art isn't the knowledge they need to perform their job properly. Someone who states bad statistics is ignorant to math. Those examples are really not the type of ignorance I'm speaking of; however they are examples of ignorance.

Somebody who walks by a little child wearing only a dirty t-shirt, with disheveled hair and a dirty face without stopping to see why they're alone and dirty .... ignorance. Is this child lost? Abducted from it's home and dropped off on the street corner? Homeless? The child obviously needs help, yet I guarantee many would pass by without giving a second thought about the child.

Knowing a parent is not properly taking care of there children and not doing anything ... ignorance. They might live in a nice neighborhood, have a beautiful home, drive a nice car, the kids are always clean and in nice clothing .... yet they don't receive the care at home the need and deserve. Knowing that is going on and letting it continue, ignorance.

Smoking .... I wouldn't call that ignorance, that is just pure stupidity. I have a very hard time believing someone in this day and age that doesn't know the dangers of smoking. I might (MIGHT) call not knowing about smoking around infants and children ignorant ..... but even that is pushing it.
The CDC estimated last year that exposure to secondhand smoke kills more than 3,000 nonsmokers from lung cancer, approximately 46,000 from coronary heart disease, and as many as 430 newborns from sudden infant death syndrome. I think everyone knows secondhand smoke is dangerous, this is why I find it hard to call that ignorance rather than pure stupidity. And for those of you wondering how many smokers die a year, it's around 400,000.

The same goes for drunk drivers ... there's not ignorance there, just pure stupidity! Everyone knows that drinking + driving = stupidity, there's no way around it .... the equation always has the same answer. (Around 17,000 people are killed due to drunk drivers yearly.)


After all that rambling (sorry), comes my dilemma .....
What's the difference between common sense and ignorance? Is it a very fine line?? There are members in my family who are extremely intelligent, yet extremely ignorant (I believe) when it comes to certain matters. Even after being educated, they continue to show ignorance ... so they're given the knowledge (by myself, the youngest one that knows nothing) yet don't bother to use it, or even research it if it's not believed. Is that still ignorance? Is it stupidity? Or is it just lack of common sense????? Whichever it may be is not an easy thing to deal with.