[Hadley tweeted an article that does me no good. It was about male impulses to want a perfect woman: a woman intelligent, funny, independent, dependent, and strikingly beautiful. It chastised men for high standards and attempted to redirect their penchant for beauty. I don't need this article because mentally, I realized that fact years ago. It's just that my water witching has yet to catch up with my brain.]
[Another thing: the article said men think that the woman should be smart, like, really smart, but not so smart as to make the man feel stupid. I want to admit that I have felt stupid before for mistakes and overconfidence, but no one has been able to MAKE me feel stupid for years. Either I shrug it off (that's just not something I've learned yet), or I remember that I exceed them in areas (they don't know as much about survival as I do), or I can comprehend the science, math, programming, psychological phenomenon, or whatever they're explaining, so it doesn't matter that they knew it first: I know it now. The only way I can think of to make me feel really stupid is thefind a kid who exceeds me in intelligence (given his/her limited experience, a greater scope of knowledge would humble me).]
In short, I am not smart. I'm just wise in this one thing, and I hope I can communicate it to you. Don't base your self-worth on how much you know, because there will always be someone out there who knows more than you.
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I read the article as well, since Hadley usually posts thought-provoking items.
ReplyDeleteI do think you're smart, Robby, but I also think you're right in saying that we should not base self-worth off our knowledge base. The thing I've been learning is that God gives us our value, and nothing else matters. Hard to believe in this world where the importance of beauty (at least, for females) is shoved at us all the time, but He's working on me and I try to be content with that.
So yesterday in my biology class one of the kids asked about atom bombs (because we were discussing atoms so of course he had to find a way to get off the real topic without it being obvious. I digress...)and I realized that I had absolutely no idea how to answer his question, but then another kid pipes up and spills out everything there is to know about atom bombs! I had never been so happy to be out-knowledged. And not just because he helped me avoid an awkward silence. I was proud because this kid was so PUMPED about learning! I think I'm gonna like this whole teaching thing ^_^ I have a feeling I'm going to be learning more than I'm teaching...
ReplyDeleteI could agree with someone here. Or everyone. Or whatever, but this strikes me as something everyone's decided already, so I'm going to take a page from the child-sized Sam Kean and ask:
ReplyDeleteNo matter how Christian someone is, or how in love, or how knowledgeable, no one I have ever met has been able to convince me that s/he does not find much worth in him/herself unless s/he thinks s/he DOES SOMETHING big and deep and meaningful (and lucrative, generally) in the world's eyes.
Why? Is that good? How does one have self-worth if one is useless?
(Before you say anything, don't think I'm asking for myself; I'm not. I'm asking for retirees I know, and for a younger lady who had a stroke and misses her job and wants to die.)
One has self-worth when useless when one stops underestimating their impact on the world. Watch It's a Wonderful life and change a mindset. Remember to live every day like the past is unchangable.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on not knowing anything about atomic weaponry, sheesh. You take two non-critical masses and smash them together so they start fission. The Americans did it two ways: a sphere filled which subcritical masses which they exploded toward the center, or a tube with two subcritical masses which they exploded toward each other. In that order they dropped the bombs.
I read about that in a book.
And I'm going to take your advice by not feeling retarded after you just knowledge vomited all over my face.
ReplyDeleteLike the past is unchangable? As in, no "I wish I had never been born"?
ReplyDeleteBut seriously, this woman volunteers and built this beautiful garden and offers her advice to her replacement and supports VBS at her church, and she still says she wishes she could die because her life ended when that bleed prevented her from doing math.
Think about that. She worked hard to make my family feel welcome here and straight-up gave me a whole box of her favorite books. So yeah, she's like the guy in the movie, I guess. But he never earned two Masters degrees and then suddenly lost the piece of his mind that allowed him to do his job. And chiding her for feeling useless is ... useless
Ugh, sorry. It just really bothers me, and I guess I want to make it bother someone else because then I know I'm not being unreasonable? I don't know.
ReplyDeletehaha
ReplyDeleteI am that kid. I don't care about fission or fusion but BOY is atomic weaponry JUST AWESOME
I read Feynman so I know how they figured out how much is a critical mass. :P
I'm not sure I believe your fictitious alleged article (links or it didn't happen). I've met plenty of men dating totally dumb women, usually because they are classically gorgeous.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure how much weight intelligence actually carries in our society at large. Sure, the smart people want other smart people, but I feel like most average men prefer someone who doesn't threaten their masculinity with her book lernin'.