The more I learn the more I realize I don't know

The title pretty much sums it up. This realization has really started to come to me the past couples of days. What do I know? Having just graduated from college now in grad school. Compared to other people I'm around everyday I've done squat and don't really know all that much about how the world works. For example, today in Urban Neighborhood Revitalization we did a case study about a how to set up a mixed income, integrated subdivision. Going over the case study before class started I tried to come up with resolutions to the racial issues but I couldn't. In class we had a discussion that started off innocuously as usual classroom discussions do, but it quickly turned into a passionate argument between several members of the class. Some background about the class, there are 20 students split about 50-50 male-female, 2 black females, 1 Austrian girl, and the rest are white Americans. Immediately this makes any racial discussion biased and a tenous subject. I didn't speak up today because I was contemplating what was being said. I have no idea what it's like to be a minority or even a member of the majority that is living in poverty. How am I supposed to "fix" societal problems such dealing with equity and social justice? The only way I could personally relate to the integration discussion was through my scout camp experience that forced the interaction of Buckhead kids and inner city kids that quickly errupted into chaos. Bringing this back to topic, the resolution of the class was that people must have the ability to choose where they live and the ultimate goal should be education and cultural studies beginning at the earliest age. How do you do this? The kids learn to be biased from their parents who learned from their parents and so on. Where does the cycle begin and end, it's a difficult situation.

Before the class today and I had been contemplating this thought as well. I realized how much my thinking and consciousness of the world had changed since high school and even the beginning of college. Education and experiences are the key to understanding the world. What if I hadn't worked at scout camp for two summers, what if I didn't go to Europe in Jr. High, What if I didn't go to GA Tech and hear five languages at a time when walking around campus? Who would I be? Would I have learned that I have to respect and engage with people other than me? Would I be in my little Carrollton, GA world in my ethnocentric bubble? Most likely yes, and that's a disturbing thought. While I am still extremely sheltered from a lot of things I am grateful I have learned about the world around me and have developed a consciousness and the ability evaluate.

Finally, after watching the last several episodes of ER, and question that has long plagued me has come back. How does one best serve? Is it on a local scale, regional, national, or even global in nature? I have pondered this for quite awhile and came to the conclusion that there are service opportunities everywhere, one just has to find the right niche. However, after watching ER and seeing the destruction and hearing the dialog about elitist American ideals I am drawn to the idea that the global cause takes precedence over local needs. Why should my efforts be spent in revitalizing neighborhoods in the US when the Americans most likely have a far superior quality of life compared to those in war-torn areas. Why shouldn't our focus be on international service? But then I'm drawn back to the thought that why not help the guy in our backyard, everyone should be valued equally. As in the case study, it's a difficult situation, and one that I'm not likely to resolve any time soon. So until later, later.