Is the world round?

Recently, I had my family over to watch the Super Bowl like millions of other families. We gathered together to eat tacos and watch the Kansas City Chiefs get their ass kicked in front of hundreds of millions of people. But even though the yearly event is centered around a football game, the real show was Kendrick Lamar's two-steppin’ all over the lifeless corpse of pop megastar Drake in hopes of finally landing a final and decisive victory in their Rap battle.

It was a great time.

But like many family gatherings around the country, the discussion managed to branch off into a debate — for our family, it was about whether the Earth is flat or round. And as a result, I immediately got my ass up and out of my seat and distanced myself from the conversation. I knew nothing good could come from it flashing back to the last time our family had a debate a couple of years prior when all it did was turn into a big ass argument. I had no interest in doing that sht again. So I plopped next to my wife on the couch and tried my best to pay attention to the game…and not their back-and-forth debate on the geometric shape of the Earth.

These kinds of discussions intrigue me, though.

I’ve never been one to shy away from science. Especially if I can offer a perspective that a not-so-technical person can appreciate. But as I heard my stepdad and siblings keep rebutting each other about the roundness of the planet coincidentally in the shadow of a very round classroom globe that I kept on my desk right next to the table they were sitting at, I knew that any contributions to the discussion would be of no damn use. That’s because when someone adamantly believes in something, they dig in. There is no amount of evidence that you could provide that would make someone pull their head out of their ass when it is firmly lodged in there.

I believe the world to be round for the record. And I also have a sht ton of evidence to point toward that too. Yet, it was there at that very moment when my bro said the Earth is a half-sphere I knew that there was no changing his perspective or really anyone’s perspective. The only way to truly “know” is to hitch a ride onto a damn rocket going into space and then take a look with your own eyes. But when they started to use the Bible as “proof” of the world’s flatness, I realized that we just weren’t on the same level of understanding.

Not that I’m smarter or that I have a higher capacity for intellectualism. It’s more around the fact that you can’t explain high-level concepts to a person who has not reached that particular level of understanding. This applies to virtually everything in life — whether it be trying to explain Karate black belt concepts to a new Karate student or trying to teach a kindergartener rocket science. Doesn’t mean they can’t get to where you are in your understanding. Just means that they have to ascend there first in their own time and pace.

So, is the world round? Only a few people know for certain based on the idea that seeing is believing. But the fact that it is a question in the first place should mean there is hope for the future after all.