You Know Nothing! You Know Nothing!

You Know Nothing! You Know Nothing!

I’m going to transport you back about 40 years to find a young Mike Lee working for what some called an arrogant, obnoxious person. To me, he was not only my boss, but a friend. In some ways he was absolutely charming; in others, a nightmare to deal with. But in any case, I had started in the job and within a year, I was beginning to have the kind of success that made others take notice.

As the months quickly passed, he began to trust me more and listened to what I thought about the business and life. Then, one day after an important discussion, he leaned forward and with a smile on his face, raised his voice, and proclaimed to me and all who were within earshot, “You know nothing! You know nothing!” We laughed together and I thought I understood the motive for his verbal assault, but in fact, I did not.

Now 40 years later, I am just beginning to understand how much truth was carried in his words. Neither of us were Christians so his comment was not based on anything that he had found in the Bible. But he was 16 years my senior and was operating from the well-known fact that wisdom is accumulated over time and experience. I may have proved to be a pretty smart young man and even a fast learner, but because I had not lived for very long, I really didn’t know what I thought I knew, and he was happy to bring the point home- You know nothing!