I lived in a small town for my high school years. There were only 25 students in my graduating class so it was easy to keep track of where we ranked amongst the others. There were two girls who were consistently at the top of the class, and another three or four students that jockeyed for the next positions. There should have been one more.
He was a big guy who came by the nickname Chewbacca easily. He was kind-hearted, fun loving and personable. He was also smart. Very smart. But I'm not convinced many knew just how bright he was.
"Chewy" never took books home. I don't recall seeing him take notes. But no matter the class, he always did well. He was never at the top. That would have required work and no matter the encouragement, he refused to put in more than a few minutes here or there. He was doing fine and that was good enough for him. He was never part of the conversations that would have given him awards or scholarships, but he had an amazing mind and is one of the more interesting people I've had deeper conversations with.
It is said that the best leaders surround themselves with people who are smarter than themselves. But determining who belongs in that circle could be difficult to discern. How do you rate someone's intelligence? Is it the postsecondary degrees hanging on the wall? How well-spoken and eloquent someone is? Their IQ?
That last factor has long been up for debate because of the limitations presented by trying to test intelligence. Nonetheless, IQ is often the standard used to determine intelligence, and is the doorway into Mensa, the largest and oldest society of those with the highest IQs. So where are all these geniuses living? According to Mensa, the country with the highest number per capita is Finland, followed by Sweden and the United Kingdom. Canada is not in the top 10.
If we use the standards established by Mensa it means 2% of the people we share the planet with are defined as geniuses. So who are they? Well, the list includes a professor in Australia, a Croatian mathematician, an Italian engineer, a British forensic psychologist, a Swiss scientist and video game designer, an American physician; and others from India, Bosnia and Japan. The individual declared the smartest in the world is Evangelos Katsioulis, a Greek psychiatrist who has degrees in philosophy, medical research technology and psychopharmacology.
It is good to know there is such intellect amongst us, but I think the ones we need to hear from today are those with more than intellect. We need the ones with wisdom.
Wisdom is good sense, but so much more. Wisdom is excellent judgment, but so much more. Wisdom is an accumulation of knowledge and experience, but so much more. It's not easily defined but when we encounter it, we know it.
Those who are wise have an ability to discern what is necessary and sift through what is not. They don't shout, they speak. They don't talk down, they teach. They have a presence that calms and a demeanor that steadies what is going on around them.
We need to demonstrate that we value the contribution of those that are wise. Shut out the voices that inflame. Turn off the noise that does little more than cause outrage. Delete the posts that do nothing but divide. Instead, spend time with and soak in the words of those among us who are wise.
Someone considered to have one of the greatest minds of all time is Albert Einstein who was born more than 140 years ago. His birthday, which falls on March 14, is called Genius Day in some circles. We should indeed celebrate the intellectual gifting of those who are considered geniuses. So to, we should celebrate the creativity, imagination, innovation and perseverance of all those who can mesh their ideas with ambition, their skill with drive, and their heart with their hands. Even more, let's learn from those who have garnered a level of understanding, insight and wisdom into the world around us and allow their discernment and reason to be what is heard.
I'm not sure I know many geniuses but I sure do have wise people in my life. March 14 also happens to be National Potato Chip Day. Perhaps one way to mark the occasion is to share a bag of chips and a conversation with someone who has something worthy to say and the wisdom to back it up. That's my outlook.
