Orangutangents

Dad, The Ultimate Answer

A friend of mine hits 42 this weekend. This reminded me that this year, because I was in the same school year as he was, I too will hit the grand old age of 42. 

So, does this make me the answer to the ultimate question, as theorised by Douglas Adams? Or simply questionable?

My kids seem constantly surprised when I confess I don't know stuff, but I see no reason to pretend I'm the ultimate answer to all questions. I'm also delighted when they teach me stuff, which seems to happen all the more frequently as they get older, and I get more erratic. 

Google seems to be my friend more and more these days, but I admit I get a kick out of surprising my kids when I do know something they think I have no idea about. And, that perhaps is the point. If we all share what we know rather than professing to know more than we do, there is little that together we will not know. 

I remember the general mickey taking when Donald Rumsfeld came out with this one... 

"Reports that say that something hasn't happened are always interesting to me, because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns -- the ones we don't know we don't know. And if one looks throughout the history of our country and other free countries, it is the latter category that tend to be the difficult ones."

He got royally hauled over the coals for that one, but I've never understood why, as it actually makes a lot of sense if you look at it. The bloke wasn't particularly to my personal tastes, but it's an interesting paragraph, that ultimately says "We don't know everything". Sometime I think everyone needs to remember that. Particularly parents. 

I'll still never forget my daughter's face when I played a recorder at her though, and I hope I never lose the ability to surprise and occasionally delight my kids with something they didn't know I knew =]