NOT ALL-KNOWING.

By Joe Mangiamele

July 3, 2009

Is there more that we can learn as we grow in position? Or once elected to office, do officials by some strange passage begin to know all there is to know?

All politicians from the President on down have proved that they don't know everything even when they are doing their best to understand situations and ways to deal with new circumstances.

Often, the youngest or newest of politicians remain silent as they learn. This silence may be mistaken for pretense to be all knowing. More experienced politicians sometimes remain silent in order not to make commitments or give away their positions.

So the air of silence is rather tricky in making judgments of what our politicians really know. They can't go wrong by admitting that they don't know. But it is often believed that this admission diminishes their importance or their authority.

Politicians are not superhuman, but to pretend to know without knowledge is not being superior. The greatest of knowledge seekers, the greatest of philosophers, the greatest of scientists are the ones seeking answers to their questions.

Therefore to be curious and quizzical is more judicial than pretending to be all knowing. Besides, most knowledge is constantly changing.

But many politicians seen on television seem to want to give the impression that they are all-knowing.

Most of us know that we can't believe all we see, let alone all we hear. Perhaps more of the television politicians should be advised to remain somewhat less audible and in so doing appear more judicial.

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