Fear Of A Sheltered Life

Student: I know how you feel about the matter, but I’m thinking about going to a secular college next year.

Gibbs: How come?

Student: I don’t want to live in a bubble. If I don’t go to a secular college, I’m worried I’ll go through my whole life without ever knowing anything about other people’s views.

Gibbs: Huh. You think college is your last chance to encounter “other people’s views”?

Student: Sort of.

Gibbs: What a strange life you must have planned for yourself after college. Be that as it may, I guess I should ask what you mean by “other people’s views”?

Student: I mean, I don’t know anything about Islam. I don’t know anything about Buddhism or Hinduism.

Gibbs: How much do you know about Islam already?

Student: Nothing. Isn’t that crazy?

Gibbs: You’ve never read a Wikipedia article on Islam?

Student: I might have, but I don’t remember it.

Gibbs: How about Buddhism? Hinduism? Atheism? How deeply have you looked into these things already?

Student: Again, I know nothing, that’s why I want to go to a secular college.

Gibbs: If you actually wanted to know about other views, you would have already begun doing a little digging.”

-from my latest for CiRCE