You know that old adage, I'm sure.....
KNOWLEDGE IS POWER!
Sounds good, right? After all, who can argue with knowledge?
Whoa! Let's back that wise old truck up just a sec and re-phrase:
WHO CAN ARGUE WITH KNOWING?
Such as, the modern-day gigolo that everyone KNEW about, but all those folks with that knowledge didn't want to hurt his latest victim--who also happened to be a deliriously happy friend? She seems to really love that gigolo, and who are we to pass judgment, yada, yada......?
Or the ALMOST-certain knowledge of the philandering husband while his wife is away? Is 99% sure enough to say we KNEW he was cheating? Enough to tell her??
Yikes. Suddenly all this knowledge got a bit messy.
It seems that most of us choose ignorance instead at this point. It's just easier to pretend we know nothing and let events stumble along on their own. Without us acting as the KNOWING police.
And that's how victims get run over. Crushed by a horde of people who knew and said nothing.
I've been on both sides of this intersection recently: as the "knower" and "she who needed to know." I've wrestled both of these perspectives to the ground, only to have the pesky arguments of telling or being told rise up yet again, knocking me to the gutter, the one filled with secrets and lies.
Do I tell what I know? Am I sure....enough?
Do I wish someone had told me? Would I have listened through that fog of lust?
Finally, after picking myself up and washing the nasty grime from my eyes, I am certain......
KNOWLEDGE IS POWER.... I WISH SOMEONE HAD TOLD ME. AND I WISH I HAD TOLD, TOO.
When we withhold information, we are making decisions for others, without even giving them the opportunity to make KNOWLEDGEABLE choices.
Good or bad.....at least they would have KNOWN.