May 27, 1999.

It was during the boy's second and most elaborate commentary on Things That Were Stupid and How Could You Know For Sure that she knew that she had had enough. Big E, slanty 'nough.'

She ran her hand through her hair and looked at the boy with a familiar mix of annoyance and weariness. This was not the first time that he had begun to rant. Last week he'd declared that Aristotle's famous pronouncement that women were defective men was "stupid." We shouldn't be studying it, he angrily mumbled before lapsing back into silence. She didn't know what to say to this, didn't know if a response was even possible. She'd been a feminist since she figured out that she was a woman, for heaven's sake, and she hadn't fallen prey to this sort of tunnel view of history in at least a decade. Probably more. To hear these things come out of the mouth of a pierced boy in athletic gear was...strange. But this was a new height...or a new low.

Five hours of primary document assignment, she thought numbly, and now this happy asshole. A little learning is a dangerous thing all right...especially when you can't see farther than the "self-evident" truths of the 20th century. After all, we knew they were right, so why didn't those Europeans from 1450-1648? They must've. I mean, it's soooo obvious...right?

This time he had the chain of being in his sights: "Humans aren't at the top of creation. That's just stupid. You can't know what they all thought, so some of them prolly knew better." An indefensible thesis, if not for the obvious stupidity. I've had enough, she insisted to herself.

Lord what fools these mortals be, said Puck. Even me? she asked. Even you, you stuck-up bitch. Try seeing life without your fancy four year humanities education. Try to lose your godly perspective on the relativity of human belief. Try to let go of all those facts about history that you accumulated from god knows where, like a snowflake growing from a speck of dirt. Try to live life from the perspective of the blissfully ignorant for once.

Well, could you?