Intelligence found in the most unlikely places

If we think we are special and smart it's mostly due to a genetic lottery,
our upbringing, opportunities are given to us; and possibly even adversity that we have overcome, to forge who we are today.

Why then are we surprised when we discover criminals schemes that are ingenious. Carried out by the most unlikely of people.

It's a sort of arrogance on our part to think that we who have been blessed with the better education and upbringing and DNA have an exclusive hold on being smart.

In a normal society that rewards excellence, one would assume that all those who bore the mark of intelligence would rise to the top.

The smart people would also be those driving nice cars and living the high life.

That we, particularly in South Africa live in a strange and artificial society, divided along racial lines leads to some odd results. 

We have to accept that statistically for every 100 people there will be a percentage of gifted ones, and that they might be born into poverty and broken homes, in which their gifts are not recognized, or encouraged. One finds these flowers growing, in the most unlikely places.

The cleaner who sweeps up after us might be better suited to actually doing our work. The maid who does our dirty work might make a better doctor, Lawyer, engineer or IT professional than the owner of the house. The only thing that separates us is our upbringing and blind luck.

This is not something we want to think about because it cuts both ways. If we accept the possibility that in a perfect world the person who cleans the crud off your mag wheels is better suited to own and drive your new 7 series BMW, one would need to consider the possibility that we would in that ideal would be the ones on our knees.

What we need, is to take a look around us. At the people who serve us, and imagine that they were given the breaks we were.

And then imagine them as geniuses trapped by circumstance to serve idiots like us. This exercise is useful because it serves to show us that we aren't half as gifted as we would have people believe and that the rest of the world is teeming with raw talent that makes us look stupid.

If that doesn't make you humble, you are an ass, and that has been diagnosed with a fatal, incurable condition. Stupidity.

So at the very least, you got to find out that.

You are welcome.

M Parak
Aug 2018