I am ignorant most of the time!! I agree with you, it's the situation we find ourselves in that brings that until-then-well-hidden-ignorance to the fore. Sometimes it doesn't take much of a situation.
Both my grandmothers and my Aunt Bett had only an 8th grade education. Women born in the late 1800s and early 1900s didn't go to school beyond that time because there was no real reason unless they were going into nursing or teaching. To me, both then and now, they were brilliant.
I guess you have to take into consideration the fact that we all are ignorant of some things.
You know how occasionally you get together with a group of friends and all have dinner together? Inevitably there is a joker in the crowd, one who draws attention by telling jokes. The longer the joke, the more he loves to tell it. Well, in that same little group of friends, his wife -- who is a really good friend of mine -- never 'gets' a joke. She just rarely understands them and never laughs because she sees nothing funny. The entire group will be rolling in laughter but she sits there with a blank look. She just doesn't get jokes. But she has her doctorate in Early Childhood Education and has been principal of a school in NY. She also taught for awhile at a university here in KY. But for that one moment in time, she is ignorant of joke humor.
I guess we are all ignorant when we find ourselves in a discussion or situation that we know nothing about. The life cycle of an octopus, forget it, I am mostly ignorant of underwater life cycles. But let's talk about Ancient Cultures and I fit right in. Or making Sauerkraut or apple butter -- there I am a genius.
Makes one wonder, though, where's the bliss?
All fun aside, it's really interesting how you found your way to retirement in Mexico. Amazing. I love your 'mess of words'.