viragette

I used to totally care whether I was smart or not. On bad days, I even cared if other people thought I was smart.

This was before I discovered why being smart is just not in one’s best interest.

I’m not referring to some smart-people martyrdom. I saw The Incredibles like everyone else did. (Irony? Yes.) And I got it too: you know, Mr. Incredible smooshed into that dinky little car. Cool. People are not all the same, discuss. So, please, don’t picture me with my graphing calculator languidly draped across my classically educated brow, lamenting that smart people are all misunderstood. Au contrair.

Because, often, it’s the smart people who are missing the point. Hello, my name is Viragette, and I am a smart person: not only do I rarely get the point, most of the time I can’t even get the bus.

First of all, let me just say that by “smart” here I mean the societal definition that usually goes along with this word - a person who demonstrates intelligence that can be measured and defined by certain skills - such as logical reasoning, reading comprehension, mastery of logical systems such as mathematics or language usage. A painter or musician is, instead, considered “talented”. Personally, I think everyone has the same amount of real smarts - talent and intelligence - distributed differently. And I’m sticking to that.

I’ve been staying with two good friends this week, and the other day we three had a bit of an argument. My friend the artist was trying to explain why she didn’t trust the internet, and her husband - a computer programmer and musician - and I were trying to figure out what the $#@&! she was talking about. I mean, she was not making any kind of sense that my brain could discern, capiche?

Evidently, she gets this reaction quite frequently when she states her opinion, and it is frustrating for both parties. She has a strong opinion and cannot find a way of expressing it in a logical argument. Meanwhile, her husband and I - “smart” people trapped within the tiny circumscribed borders of logic - peppered her with questions until she finally blipped: she turned bright red and yelled at us. We still don’t know what she meant, but we did end the evening laughing and contented, as usual.

Next morning at breakfast, she said she had felt “ganged up on” by us “smart people”. She said, it “sucks not to be smart.”

Let me just explain that this woman is an amazing artist, technician and a role model for me in so many ways. She is wise and fills the world around her with energy and beauty. She is incredibly bad at card games, but will kick your butt at Boggle 9 times out of 10.

Her husband and I just sort of looked dumbfounded for a minute. Then I said - “you think being logical is a better way to be?”

“Yes,” she said. “You can argue what you mean.” And so I had to set her straight. (Irony? Yes.)

I said, “You are right that your husband and I are good at logical stuff. But that’s really not all that useful.” (She snorted.)

“No - really. OK, I could use logic to figure out how that lamp over there works. But I can’t use logic to understand how to love someone, or to be happy. Most stuff that is really important doesn’t follow logical rules. People aren’t logical. You can’t even understand yourself using just logic.

It’s like, how you can’t use money to buy anything that’s actually valuable - love, trust, happiness? You can’t use logic to get those things either.

I mean, it might help sometimes. But sometimes it can be a hinderance because, I’m stuck like this. This is how I am - logical. I can’t just turn it off. So, I try to figure stuff out. I spend 90% of my time completely baffled by stuff that is completely illogical. That can’t be figured out. That other people can understand intuitively.

Last night, we weren’t pestering you because we were trying to show that you weren’t being logical. We were just trying to figure out what you meant in the only way we could - because we’re just stuck like this. It’s like being in a tiny little prison, where 90% of the world - and most of the good stuff - is just out of reach.

And I do mean prison. If you believe your own logical reasoning, and no one can create a better argument, then you get stuck at the end of your argument. But logic isn’t foolproof. Something that is perfectly logical can also be wrong or misguided.”

Her husband looked up over his orange, and said “Yep.”

She shrugged. “Hmm. Sucks to be you.”

Yep. Of course, I didn’t tell her about how smart people don’t have to do housework. I mean, I’m not stupid, right?