by Veritas Merit

Created on: September 20, 2009

OK. I've had enough. CNN.com reads today that kids can't name the first president. It also reports that a kid just got over a million points on Guitar Hero.Good for the guitar hero. Is it possible he knows who was the first president? Enough! It seems that few of us are smarter than a fifth grader anyway, but fifth grade was long ago. I am still working on making my remote work and hoping Windows 7 will save me from computer hell. Again, enough!

If I were to write about the role intelligence should play in modern life, I might have something. The role intelligence seems to play in modern life is, at best, disheartening. Still I suppose it's proportionally better than say in the fifth century - maybe. While I might enjoy blasting teachers, parents, youth, electronics, or plain laziness for the lack of intelligence in modern times, I would not be fair. We do not have a lock on stupid decision making. History is replete with examples of it. Heck, TODAY is full of examples. So what's the point?

How about that humans are a few habits, a couple of decisions, a bit of critical thinking away from displaying intelligence at a level not seen on this planet, at least by humans, ever. I mean a cat won't get into an elevator if it senses danger, but we let the creep waiting beside us hold the elevator for us as we get in with him. Yikes! Going down; you understand my concern? Smarts just hasn't been our strong suit.

When somebody has lots of it, we celebrate it. Leonardo DaVinci, Einstein, and many more win praise for thinking well and acting on their thoughts. We call them geniuses. Most of us are intelligent. Most just don't hone their intelligence. We let pleasure, selfishness, desire, emotions of all kinds, get in the way. So now we add to IQ another dimension that we call EQ or Emotional Intelligence - as if that's the fix.

We define this emotional intelligence as if the definition will ring in every personal belfry across the planet. Attend to these five areas, and you will have all the answers. Emotional Intelligence too, is just another construct that helps clarify,but not control the chasm between intelligence and intelligent living. As I mentioned there are lots of temptations to thwart rational thought. Too many distractions keep us from focusing until it's too late, and we end up begging the superego in blue not to give us a ticket. Intelligence, therefore, does not make one necessarily do intelligent things.

Robert Fulghum reminded us that "Everything I know I learned in Kindergarten." If you haven't read it, go ahead, what the heck. It can't hurt you. You can find it on the internet. Look for it while you are driving, or at work while getting paid, or heck why not call frineds on your cell during a movie. They may know about it. After all, isn't life all about "ME"?

So, the role of intelligence seems to have something to do with the common order, and I will leave you with a quote from Will Durant, who was referring to Plato ( Greek philosopher). Durant wrote (approximately) morality begins with association, interdependence and organization and it is the responsibility of the individual to sacrifice some measure of personal sovereignty to the common order, and therefore the goal of the individual becomes the welfare of the group.

While I am certain I did not quote Durant perfectly, at least I know who he is. I also know who was the first president, and who Mao Tse Tung was - which my college students don't know either. This, sadly does not make me intelligent in this modern age either. It simply gives me a head start.

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