Without willing it, I had gone from being ignorant of being ignorant, to being aware of being aware. – Maya Angelou
It’s easy to be caught up in cultural and family tides as well as my own individual mental tides and not really have a clue about what’s happening. When it occurs to me that I must not be ‘seeing straight,’ then I know I’m on to something. This is where I’m at with this anger thing now. Life has reared up and bitten me in the ass a bit and instead of being defensive, I’m admitting that maybe I’ve got something to learn here. I’m willing to question what I’ve always assumed, that I’m not an angry guy. I’m aware of my ignorance, but I don’t really like calling it ‘ignorance.’
This is in part what I want Real Joe to be about, a cultural force that says, “Hey, it’s cool to know when you’re not seeing straight.” Instead of the language of defects, ignorance, inadequacies, shortcomings and psychological problems, most of our troubles are better reframed as puzzles, interesting problems, being stuck, clues in a treasure hunt, mistaken ideas, not seeing straight.