It's come to my attention that there are some people in the world who are smarter than I am. This shouldn't be a big deal, but I've defined myself by my above-average intelligence for quite a while, so it's aggravating to admit that I'm not the only runway light bulb in the bunch.
As is the case with most things I don't understand, I did a bit of research on exceptional intelligence. It turns out there are kids who teach themselves to read around age 2, just like Matilda (however, they do not have her telekinetic powers). They get bored in school and have trouble making friends (but then again, doesn't everyone?). Learning comes easily, so studying music theory and writing a symphony in a few months is just another hobby to them.
Learning doesn't always come easily to me. I have to really work at vocabulary in Russian (and English, for that matter). However, I do have a love for learning, and while I'm not quite in that upper 1%, IQ-wise, I'm still up there (despite having gotten dumber since high school, not sure how that happened). So I think I can understand wanting to study lots of different things, and feeling dread at the thought of doing the same thing for the rest of my life. And when it comes down to it, even improbably intelligent people have the same existential dilemmas as regularly intelligent people. Still, I should define myself in a way unrelated to my intellect, and then I wouldn't have these issues.
Okay, I'm going to go read a book to make myself feel smarter.
3 comments:
What's wrong with music theory? I enjoy it.
Ugh, yeah, I know what you mean. I'd been used to being pretty much the smartest person around, but when I went to work for Whizbang, there were a whole lot of really smart people there. Maybe we were the same amount of smart, but they knew a lot more and had a lot more experience.
So, how do you define yourself?
You should define yourself as lovable, humble, kind, decent, and virtuous.
Because you are. And if you meet someone who has any of these traits more in abundance you can rejoice in being in the presence of such a nice person, who will always like you for the person you are.
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