A Bit of Purging

Education is a progressive discovery of our own ignorance. 

-- Will Durant

I will start this second post of Lent by promising that not everything I write will be about bootblacking. As any Bootblack will tell you, under all the polish and Huberd's stains, we are people too, with our own individual needs and festishes and, yes, even everyday hobbies that don't involve leather!

But not today. LOL.

I am going to share something that's been simmering in my gut for a long time. I don't like to start on a negative note but it's not so much negative as a "healthy purging" I hope.

A few years ago I was attending a fetish event and I sat in on a class about bootblacking as a service. 

The class began with a brief "101" lesson, which I wished had been spelled out in the course description, but okay, whatever.

"The first thing I always tell my classes," the instructor said, "is that everything you read about bootblacking on Fetlife is bullshit."

I was, like, WHAT?

I closed my eyes and counted to ten.

Then, very quietly, I got up and walked out of the class.

YES, a definite portion of what's on Fetlife about ANY SUBJECT is, indeed, bullshit. That I can agree with.

However.

There are lots of good Bootblacks on Fetlife who DO know what they're talking about, who take time out to help others by offering advice and information, which they have attained through hard work, knowledge and experience. 

So to make a blanket statement like that? There's the bullshit.

I was just so angry. 

It is unique among humans that we have evolved to use our brains to think and make our own decisions. We learn, we apply what we've learned the best we can, and we hope we do the right thing. If not we have still learned something new.

I would rather learn from someone who knows they don't have all the answers (but hopefully has a few more than I do).

So as of this post, I am letting this anger go. It's over now. Perhaps this person was having a bad day during that class. I don't know what battles this person was fighting at the time. 

Let the journey continue.