To succeed in life you need two things: ignorance and confidence. ~ Mark Twain

You need both? Ignorance and confidence?
Is that a political joke? Can you possibly succeed
possessing both characteristics? And is there an order?
Should you be ignorant so you can learn
and, learning, become confident?
Or should you be confident
and forget you are confident,
become humble, malleable, amenable?
Maybe you can be both simultaneously.
If ignorance is lack of information
then certainly all of us are there…
we cannot have all possible information,
can’t know everything there is.
Does that mean we can’t be confident?
But are we supposed to be both? How can that be?
If confident means feeling or showing confidence
and confidence is a feeling or believe we can rely
on something, on someone, having firm trust
then we can be ignorant and confident…
ignorant because we know we can’t,
are aware we’re powerless, unable to manage
and confident because we came to believe
even if we could not that a power greater than we,
a god as we might understand that term,
could…then that’s what I want to have.
Ignorance and confidence.