By Emily Stonehouse

We don’t know everything.

Yes, perhaps a startling realization. I wrote a few weeks ago about how there is always more to every story, about how there is power in seeking more information.

And this past week, when I attended the Lead Local event, I realized the strength in gathering a room full of people who recognize the need for change.

And I shy away from the term ‘like-minded people,’ because they were not liked-minded. Perhaps the only common denominator with the individuals in that room was their interest in progress, in change, in making the community better.

But their backgrounds, their experiences, their ages, their orientations, their outlooks, were varied.

Even their breadth and depth of knowledge was different. The two women who took the lead on the event – Jessica Slade and Shay Hutchings – live in two very different worlds. Slade specializes in political spheres, and Hutchings dedicates her life to navigating physical and mental health for her patients, her people.

So often, we shy away from politics because we don’t know. But Hutchings changed that narrative for many. She transparently declared that she didn’t know. To a room full of people.

For anyone, that takes strength. For a woman, a gender often overlooked and overpowered if we admit to a gap of vulnerability, that takes a tremendous amount of bravery.

But she opened up the doors to questions. She admitted she didn’t know, so she committed to learning. “It gives you power to understand,” she said to me.

And how can you understand if you don’t know, don’t dive into the topic, don’t analyze all sides?

There are many topics I have shied away from because I don’t know. Women so often fall into a permanent state of imposter syndrome, shying away from topics we can’t lean on because it feels we’re not heard during our best of times, why give reason for doubt in others?

But we need to reframe that narrative of not knowing. It’s not that we’re missing something, it’s that we’re filling in the gaps. It’s not that we’re unintelligent, it’s that we’re still still learning. It’s not that we’re shying away from knowledge, it’s that we’re building up the courage to find out more.

Right now, everyone should be committing to learning more about climate change, about the decisions our politicians are making at every level of government, about upcoming local election, about what is happening in Gaza, and how our dismissal of international events we don’t know about, does impact the lives of fellow human beings, an ocean away.

A state of unknown is not a weakness, it’s a strength. There is power in vulnerability, courage in asking questions.

Because we don’t know everything. And while that can come as a startling realization to some, is apparent to others.

So let’s commit to learning more; filling those gaps of the unknown and pushing ourselves to be individuals who care about more than what’s happening right in front of us.

There’s a world out there that can teach us so much, but only if we’re ready to listen.