Not sure if that a was wise thing to do – I feel stupider than ever. Probably should have been grocery shopping, or dusting or something with more tangible rewards.
A word to the wise: Don’t bother with all that “evolving” rigmarole. Read a good Sherlock Holmes story instead. Then you can go around deducing and annoying your friends. From what I’ve learned, that’ll work just as well as so-called “wisdom.”
Of course there are studies of wisdom. Research on the concept. Somebody thought it would be fun and somebody else funded it.
White-coated lab geeks have furrowed their brows and made notes on their clipboards over who is the most sage, how s/he got that way and if there’s a convincing method of faking it. (No, not really. I was just hoping, that’s all.)
They came to some noteworthy conclusions:
First and perhaps most irritating of all, there is no correlation between age and wisdom.
If that doesn’t make an old person feel foolish, well…
I mean, having paced myself all these years, waiting for wisdom to catch up with me, I’m more than a little miffed to learn that instead of settling around me, bestowing an aura of ascendency, wisdom apparently zoomed past me quite a while ago, most likely during my tie-dye stage.
And what? We’re supposed to listen to young people now?!
It’s OK though. Really. It’s perfect. I’ll just plod along in my humdrum way with all the other Slowskis, oblivious, but full of opinions and ready to share.
No worries, right?
Which brings us to a second conclusion reached by our intrepid researchers: Wisdom does not necessarily lead to happiness.
So I say why bother? It must be depressing for a preeminently learned person to confront all the witlessness s/he encounters each day! I mean, what’re you going to do? If you keep setting people straight, imparting your knowledge all over town, it won’t be long before you have no one to play with.
I mean, to paraphrase my grandpa, nobody likes a “smart donkey,” right?
And here’s the clincher, research says that the wise person seeks to understand other people and their behavior rather than judging them.
Well where’s the fun in that? The way I see it, God wouldn’t have given us Toronto Mayor Rob Ford if He didn’t want us to feel superior to SOMEONE.
For Pete’s sake! If we can’t look down on Lindsay Lohan from a lofty position of self-righteousness, then…then…
Or Miley Cyrus or Charlie Sheen! Come on!
What are we normal schmos supposed to do when our egos need a little boost? Analyze? Show compassion? Empathize? Intone, “There but for fortune go I?”
Well I refuse! I always hated that uppity grammar anyway.
Nope. If I can’t have wisdom I’m going to make the most of my lack. I’m going to work my obtuse angle. I’ll be the best ignoramus you can find!
Oh. Wait a minute. That didn’t come out like I thought it would.
What I meant to say is, I don’t want to live on the mountain top or in the ivory tower or wherever all those wise guys hang out anyway. I’ve heard it’s lonely up there. And all that serenity! It’s not my style.
I’ll just be here at home, watching TMZ.
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