How should we respond to ignorance?

I don't have answers, only questions, and questions for those questions.

May 10, 2017.

We naturally gravitate towards contempt. It's so easy to be appalled at the utter lack of intelligence displayed in others. Have they no critical thinking skills at all? For me, sometimes it's easier to pretend they don't exist.

They don't see the Truth as we do, we who walk in the light, we who are gifted with our sharp wit and gifts of analysis.

But sometimes, when I feel bad for looking down on those I deem as ignorant, I realize I could boil my feelings down to a deeper sociological question that is very uncomfortable to vocalize, but I think it should be entertained if we are to confront our piousness:

Do unintelligent people have a place in this world?

No, I mean really. Do they? What purpose do they serve? Are there the smart people who have all the answers, and then the rest just pawns?

Are ignorant people just as valuable as people who are "woke"?

Is the person who could never dream to be more than the janitor really just as important as the gifted individual who was born to be CEO?

What about those who are born with a low IQ, whose simple minds will never ponder deep existential questions? What about the poor, who don't have access to a quality education, who learned to live and survive on instinct, who trust their feelings more than so-called facts-- who may never change? What about the closed-minded? Are these people's thoughts worth anything at all?

Not a rhetorical question, a real one. Think about it.