Wife, mother, grandmother, reader, writer, kindness warrior. Retired teacher. Volunteer Reading Grandma. Former columnist for the Nevada Appeal. Author of US, NOW AND THEN.
View all posts by Lorie Smith Schaefer
2 thoughts on “Mid-week Mischief”
Hi Lorie, this reminds me of that parody from/to ‘The Sixth Sense’ that was around some years ago. “I see dumb people. They’re everywhere!” 😂
Maybe “stupid” is a harsh way to put it, Lorie. At best we’re always learning and that never stops for us. We make the best decisions we can. given the information and understanding we have. Some work out better than others. If we call decisions that people make “stupid”, we impair their dignity, or try to. Surely there are manydecisions we see as poorly planned, or impulsive, or wrongly informed. It’s kinder to regard people this way without pejoratives, even casual ones. Second, there s no lasting prize in life for being intelligent, for being brilliant, for being a genius, or smarter than others, As Eastern thinkers say, “Comparison is odious”. It truly is. Comparison takes us backwards and hurts us. Now if we try to search fro happiness, or define it — and it’s virtually impossible to pin it down– we seem to find that intelligence, or advanced intelligence, has anything to do with those who seem truly happy. or content, or serene, or at peace, In this sense, intelligence is something of a phantom, We prize it so supremely in the West, so we can go to college, so we can gain magisterial poisons, so we can publish brilliant books and be known as geniuses — and we drill it in to our children that the more intelligent kids are better, that they get the awards — but in the end it does not make anyone one bit more content,more serene, happier, or more fulfilled. Those conditions come from other sources, That’s why I prefer not to think of people as intelligent stupid, brilliant, or otherwise. Thank you of letting me express my thoughts. — Paul Saevig
Lorie Smith Schaefer 
Hi Lorie, this reminds me of that parody from/to ‘The Sixth Sense’ that was around some years ago. “I see dumb people. They’re everywhere!” 😂
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Maybe “stupid” is a harsh way to put it, Lorie. At best we’re always learning and that never stops for us. We make the best decisions we can. given the information and understanding we have. Some work out better than others. If we call decisions that people make “stupid”, we impair their dignity, or try to. Surely there are manydecisions we see as poorly planned, or impulsive, or wrongly informed. It’s kinder to regard people this way without pejoratives, even casual ones. Second, there s no lasting prize in life for being intelligent, for being brilliant, for being a genius, or smarter than others, As Eastern thinkers say, “Comparison is odious”. It truly is. Comparison takes us backwards and hurts us. Now if we try to search fro happiness, or define it — and it’s virtually impossible to pin it down– we seem to find that intelligence, or advanced intelligence, has anything to do with those who seem truly happy. or content, or serene, or at peace, In this sense, intelligence is something of a phantom, We prize it so supremely in the West, so we can go to college, so we can gain magisterial poisons, so we can publish brilliant books and be known as geniuses — and we drill it in to our children that the more intelligent kids are better, that they get the awards — but in the end it does not make anyone one bit more content,more serene, happier, or more fulfilled. Those conditions come from other sources, That’s why I prefer not to think of people as intelligent stupid, brilliant, or otherwise. Thank you of letting me express my thoughts. — Paul Saevig
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