We are all aware of the hypothetically Chinese curse, “May you live in interesting times.” To that genre of curses I would like to add, “May you be the sharpest tack in the box.”
The curse of being the sharpest tack on the board is only surpassed by the curse of thinking you are the sharpest. If you are only slightly sharper or sharper in different areas you can still have a good conversation, but if there is a wide difference then talking becomes pointless. I don’t confuse education, clothing or social class with being intelligent. We still have lots of people around who did not go to college but have active brains and a grasp of what is going on. They read, observe and reason, which is more than most intellectuals do.
What gets me on this “tack” is I am increasingly noticing the decline of people who are important to me. Well read friends who once could quote from almost any book they had read or at least find the quote are having a hard time remembering if they read the book or not. We all keep a good attitude and use good humor. It is part of life but it is troubling.
It makes me wonder how far I am declining. I notice there are certain words that I always have a mental block on. Like so many things in life we see it in others before we see it in ourselves. The battle continues.
homo unius libri
Friday, May 26, 2023
Opus 2023-149: Ode to Old: Decline Happens
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment
Comments are welcome. Feel free to agree or disagree but keep it clean, courteous and short. I heard some shorthand on a podcast: TLDR, Too long, didn't read.