One of my favorite authors in my youth was Roald Dahl. The wit, humor, and emotional potency of literature like The BFG and Matilda left a strong impression. To this day I think of his description of the meat pie from Danny, the Champion of the World. With all that in mind, it is needless to say that I was excited to read Roald Dahl’s adaptation of Little Red Riding Hood when it was assigned for this class. Red in this adaptation is a completely different character than in most other variations of the story, being beyond capable. Her pulling out a gun and shooting the wolf was a magnificent ending that only Dahl could’ve done justice.

In my youth, my Granny described me as a voracious reader. I thought she was right because at that young age, I believed I understood what that word meant. Voracious was the prefix of a card in the gearhulk cycle of Magic: The Gathering’s Kaladesh expansion. “Voracious” gearhulk is a card that’s art depicts a giant humanoid construct covered in foliage, its colossal scale emphasized by the people surrounding it looking miniature in comparison. Thus, for about a month following that interaction, I had the idea in my brain that voracious meant large and growing. This was a definition I was content with until I had the bright idea to bring up my love of “voracious gearhulk” in conversation with my friend James, where I quickly learned that my misreading of “verdurous” had led to a month of me using a cool word I assumed I had known the correct definition of incorrectly.

What I’m trying to say is that I make a lot of assumptions, and the assumptions that have hurt me most throughout my life are the assumptions that I am correct about absolutely anything. Each time I assume I know something about anything I am swiftly made a fool of, and rightfully so. I spent so much of my life making these assumptions that at some point, I started assuming I was alone in this destructive mindset. Nobody else needs help knowing these things, so I shouldn’t either. At the same time I am frequently too self conscious to ask questions about these assumptions to confirm or refute them, or too lazy to research them for myself. These assumptions that I have made in the past and admittedly continue to make today have led to a depressing lack of drive to expand my understanding of topics such as literature, history, and life itself. To be honest, the only thing that has ever really changed about me is my outer layer. Beneath the superficial changes of mood and facial hair I’m still the 13 year old who assumes he knows what words mean because he’s seen or heard them in some media he consumes. I am tired of being lazy and ignorant, I want to be able to learn again.