I Don't Know.

A little while back I tweeted something in Latin.

Huc venite, pueri, ut viri sitis.

 

Considering the meaning of that phrase, this post is appropriate.

 

The response to that tweet was a little unnerving.  A few friends made a joke about it (let's be honest-- Latin tweets are a tad pretentious...and so is using the word "tad")  

 

But a few people actually gave me a hard time about the tweet since they didn't know what it meant.  

 

The irony is that I didn't know what the it meant when I first read it either.  I don't know Latin.  I was reading a book and it didn't tell me what it meant.  I had to look up the translation on Google.  Took me about 2 seconds.

 

Few people who read my tweet knew what it meant.  Almost everyone looked at the tweet and said what can be the hardest 3 words to say in the English language:  I don't know.

 

What's frustrating is when "I don't know" is followed by a period instead of a comma.  "I don't know" with a period is like saying "I don't know and I don't care."  This is fine when it comes to Latin tweets.  But often times we get in the habit of the period with things that actually do matter, and our confidence in our own ability to learn, solve problems and overcome obstacles becomes damaged.

 

"I don't know" followed by a comma means "I don't know but I'm going to find out."  The coma is the 2 second Google search.  The coma is curiosity and a confidence that you can probably figure it out if you put a little elbow grease into it.  

 

Granted, the comma is more important when it matters.  

 

So what matters to you?