Smart or Not?

via Sparks from a Combustible Mind
Author: Melanie Bee Cee

I Image Googled “smart” and this sort of thing came up:

I was expecting this.   Because that first one?  Looks like some kid’s toy car.  I’d feel silly as hell riding around in one, provided I’d even fit in there.  Maybe they’re as roomy as the Fiat or the the Mini though.  I drove a Fiat once and had a helluva good time doing it too.

That 6 wheel atrocity? (F-UGLY…and stupid looking IMHO…go buy yourself a freakin’ truck and have done).

Zoom zoom.  And it got GREAT gas mileage.  If the price tag weren’t so steep, I’d even own one now.   Would drive it around when Baby (my PT Cruiser) needs a rest…

But this post isn’t about CARS…it’s about INTELLIGENCE.

I had a relative tell me recently something that absolutely astounded me.  I probably stood there, looking stupid, with my mouth open and such.   Because I had no damn idea.

They said that they grew up thinking secretly that they were retarded (okay it’s not a politically correct word, but for the generation of folks involved and since it was a PRIVATE conversation…I’m going to tell the P.C. police to bug off ).   They didn’t do near as well in school as other family members and, although they were NOT stupid or retarded; and are in fact, as an adult, very well read and hold a complicated technical job – they always thought they were somehow dumb because they didn’t hold up the academic shining light.

Now I know this relative very very well.  It’s a sibling actually.  I’m one of the ‘shining lights’ of academia that this person felt diminished by.  I am also a social moron (again with the incorrect P.C. ness…oh phooey to P.C.  I’m declaring my blog a NON-P.C. zone today) and have been since middle school.   I am awkward and ‘shy’ (hahahahah) and I don’t like people and I’m not good at pretending I do.  I say the wrong thing and I do the wrong thing socially more often than I get it right and sometimes that bugs me, but not very often.  Mostly I just don’t care.

Well NOW.   But in middle and high school?  My ‘retarded’ sibling was a social shining light.  Popular and got on well with EVERYBODY.  Had loads of friends and was always being asked to go do things with the popular kids and I really kind of hated my sibling sometimes for their success in the social arena.

It was startling therefore to realize they sort of hated me because I was ‘smart.’    Um.

Well you just never know, do you?

One man’s junk is another’s treasure and deep and profound stuff like that…

Odd what comes up in conversations at a funeral, ain’t it?

And this whole conversation and subsequent stewing about it a little bit (read obsessing over) led to reinforcement of my closely held belief that nothing fits in a pigeon hole but a pigeon, and sometimes the fat ones have to sleep in the rain.

Told you I was ‘smart.’

Photo/comic credits in order of appearance:

1. Pink Smart Car: http://www.america-smart-car-guide.com
2. 6-Wheelin’ mini-truck: http://www.yahoo.com
3. Fiat: http://www.fiatforum.com
4. Einstein quote: http://www.fakebuddhaquotes.com
5. Political cartoon: http://www.jantoo.com
6. 21st Century cartoon: http://www.godanriver.com

Editor’s note: All images and credits obtained via original post at Sparks from a Combustible Mind.