deer in head lights

"The wise man can pick up a grain of sand and envision a whole universe. But the stupid man will just lay down on some seaweed and roll around until he's completely draped in it. Then he'll stand up and go 'Hey, I'm Vine Man'." -Jack Handey

it's time to wisen up.
someone who sees an entire universe in a grain of sand is aware of more than himself, he's aware of all that is around him and seeks to understand it. the doofus rolling around in the seaweed is only aware of himself and understands only that it is making people laugh.
when i took a missions trip to romania in 2002, i thought i understood that there were poor, suffering people in the world and that yes, they needed help. i had seen the rundown neighbourhoods in my own city and pictures from around the world of kids sitting on trash heaps and the like. but the moment i walked into a state run orphanage in oradea, romania where a chicken pox epidemic had just broken out, where trash was being burned in piles by men in dirty white jumpers with cafeteria hats on and where, suddenly, a small 3 year old girl who weighed about as much as a newborn child jumped into my arms and held on for dear life- simply happy to find someone who wanted to hug her; that moment was the moment i understood. that was the moment i went from playing in seaweed to picking up a grain of sand.
one of my favourite quotes is from socrates, who says: "the only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing." you can read into this however you would like; yet what i get from it is that wisdom is being aware of the fact that you are rolling around in seaweed and that is not the place you should be in.
its like a deer in headlights. i'm from new england and up there, deer get stupid when they get near roads. in the forest they're pulling bambi re-enactments like nobody's business. eating beds of clover, nuzzling skunks and running from forest fires and guys with .22s. the moment you get a deer near a road or highway, it's over. and at night it goes from bad to worse. i imagine the conversation of two deers (wait, i forget, is deer also plural in itself like moose?) contemplating crossing a busy highway at 10pm going something like this:

bob the deer: "hey jim, let's cross this really loud thingy here and dance through those fast moving thingamabobs like we do through the lillies!"
jim the deer: "i don't know, i think i should be scared about trying that."
bob the deer: "nah we're sweet with this- those fast moving white lights are fireflies or something. it's totally safe. on the count of three, we go! one... two..."

you get the idea i think. the moment deer step onto a road they are in unfamiliar territory. deer do not understand what a car is, what it does, why it exists, what it can do to them or why its speeding straight for them. they only know that there are two very bright points of light coming towards them very fast. so what they do, armed with only this information? stare. deer will stand in the middle of the road, broadside to the coming car, aim their eyes at it and stare. and wait for those two points of light to nuzzle their noses. you can guess the results of deer in headlight wisdom.

what do you think you know? maybe it's time to have some of the things you think you know get challenged by what they really are. bob the deer thought he knew what a car was until he met a car. i thought i knew suffering people until i met suffering people. the moment you understand the grain of sand and stop rolling around in the seaweed is the moment you see through the eyes of wisdom rather than through the eyes of a deer in headlights.