They say ignorance is bliss. Who're they anyway? I guess it doesn't matter, because it's a much truer phrase than I'd like to believe. Well, maybe not so true, but I certainly can't think of a more miserable time than when I'm sitting in school, being forced to learn something that I have no interest in at all.

So fuck knowledge, let it burn. They also say knowledge is power, but what's power when you're displeased than happiness when you're stupid?

Let's learn to be happy with what we do and do not know. Let's wake up and smell the animal crackers, slathered in the the soy of their forefathers. Let learning fall to the wayside as we pursue our own paths. Stand firm in the belief that you can be better, you just don't want to. It doesn't hurt anybody, so long as you're not a dick about it.

I'm personally on a twelve step plan to forgetting everything that I know right now. I'm letting my brain atrophy at a pace that's unheard of to the normal human. Pretty soon, I won't be able to remember how to walk, and will be forced to find new, inventive methods of travel as opposed to traditional locomotion.

Look under an overpass,
You'll find me there.
Hide in the shade;
I bear witness to its cool interior.

Step away from the light.
Prometheus was overrated anyhow.
Take the world by storm and scream...
Papa-Ooh Mow Mow Papa-Ooh Mow mow.

Pretty soon I'll be letting my ability to spell fall to the wayside. Then this little node will end. Nodeshells, who needs 'em? What good did they effer do fur me aniwae? Iv had enuf of them. They can al bern in hel! An befour that, lets not furghet thos that hav past on bfur us. They saut to do us no hrm. Hel, iv had jus abow enf f ths s t s. Y agr?


Since sorrow never comes too late,
And happiness too swiftly flies.
Thought would destroy their paradise.
No more; where ignorance is bliss,
'Tis folly to be wise.
-- Thomas Gray, 1742

While I do agree that this branch of esoteric knowledge set down by Webster in 1898 and left unmodified since (i.e., English spelling) could indeed be called evil, in the sense that it does more damage than good, I would also argue that more knowledge, not less, is the best weapon against this particular ill of mankind.

Our system of spelling is evil only because it is stupid. We don't need more stupid. If we were to apply the least bit uv thought to the matter, we could find a much better way uv transcribing our language intu print. So yes, forget how to spell, but there's no need to increase your moronity.

He trudged through the mire, his boots soaked, a duffel slung over his shoulder. A ball of light floated ahead, guiding him through the dark.

Eventually, it stopped before a tree. It flickered curiously.

He studied the tree, then nodded. "Alright," he said, waving a hand. "Come back later, I'll need you to get me out. After that, we're quits. I promise."

The light flashed once and vanished.

He started rooting through the bag. One by one, old books were taken and placed gently onto the roots. Halfway through, one fell into the mud and sank.

He stared. Then, with a groan, he turned the pack upside-down and emptied everything into the muck. He picked a knife from the quickly sinking pile and stabbed it into the tree.

Orange mist streamed from the crack.

The djinn smiled. "Back again? What do-?"

"I'm done with it."

The smile faded. "You what?"

"You heard me. I'm done. I'm out." He glared. "You know what I want."

Kaleidoscopic eyes shifted. Rings of triangles turned into spirals, which turned from red to blue. . .

He looked away.

"You would forget?"

"Yes," he said, eyes on the ground.

"The names? The spells?"

"Yes, all of it."

The smile was gone. "As you will, so it is."

And then he was alone in the middle of a bog.

Anthony winced and rubbed his head. He was feeling strangely lightheaded. He looked around.

Where was he?

It was dark. Had he been sleepwalking? Was his house nearby? He didn't recognize this place.

He checked his pockets. Damn, no phone. He squinted. There was a light up ahead, maybe it was a house.

For lack of other options, Anthony turned towards the light and set off into the mist.

BrevityQuest11
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