Of Smart People

Long years ago, in my first year out of college and in a job, my boss sat me down for my first performance appraisal. Looking deep into outer space, he told me "Young man, you are intelligent and hard-working and sincere and honest. But what you lack, is a street-smartness, a kind of ruthless cunning that you need to succeed in this brutal world". Ever since then, I have asked myself: how do I get this street-smartness ? Can I ever get it ? Am I doomed ? It was then that I realized: street-smartness is not an attribute of your brain power. It is a subtle product of your conditioning. The more you are taught as a kid to be polite and kind to others, the less ruthless you turn up as a grown-up. A so-called "soft" person could be as smart as a quick-witted, smooth-talking conman. The only difference is the sub-conscious approach to human situations. This is not to say that all polite people are kind to their fellow human beings or all glib talkers are cruel -- but there definitely is a pattern. I think it is some kind of sub-conscious choice that people make on how to use their gifts. But then, maybe it is the same with intelligence. Intelligence is not probably some gift. Maybe all human beings have the same capacity for intelligent thinking --- only, deep inside, some are willing to use it, while others choose not to. Maybe, it is the same with animals. It is not that they are not smart per se. Probably, they just pity us human beings and humour us by acting dumb !!! What say ? P.S: This is the 100th post on this blog. 100 posts in two and a half years... not bad, eh !