I suspect there're facets of intelligence (maybe factual, theoretical, creative, artistic, emotional...), and few if any people excel in all. I prefer to surround myself w/people who don't compare based primarily on factual recall or traditional "success" but who see every one as differently intelligent, seeking opportunities to learn, not for excellence but for progress, both personal and universal.
This in no way denies that some people excel in certain aspects, nor does it ignore the primal motivation of competition in human accomplishment. I think it just brings back to a more natural level the grandiose, clownish magnification of the role of competition to which we've grown so attached in our culture and recognizes that there are many ways to measure intelligence and accomplishment other than society's favored, generalized measures of superiority which mask more subtle, less economically advantageous potential, abilities, and contributions offered by each one of us.
I have trouble stomaching the rhetoric of people who measure personal success or even happiness in position, office, wealth, comfort, certificates, or the esteem of others in a community of the like-minded. Maybe this disinterest in traditional success or the opinions of others partially explains why I don't have a very impressive resume. :-)
No comments:
Post a Comment