This is what I am thinking right now, and have been thinking about since our first zoning board hearing on our client's case -- we can also call this "Uncle Henry's Friendly Advice to the Young Ones":
I've never really considered myself to be very smart, I think I am of pretty average intelligence and I spent a large part of my younger years thinking I was really dumb and incapable of doing great things; I have my strong parts and weak parts like everyone (science being one of the weak parts, I had a science teacher tell me I was stupid before in a round-a-bout way, I've also failed math class a few times), yet lately I've been feeling pretty smart when I am around people who aren't my peers, especially at these zb hearings when all the hecklers in the crowd are going nuts and I swear that annoying lady who is always knitting is going to sneak up on us and stab us with her DPNs. . . Without getting into the details of our work and our case, I've come to realize that many people aren't that bright, not because of low IQs or lack of education, but because people aren't willing to expand their knowledge and understanding of different things. These objectors are running on pure fear (and an elitist attitude), but won't allow their fears to be assuaged because they aren't willing to expand their knowledge. I think what makes me smart isn't extra brain power, but because I am always expanding my knowledge. I listen to NPR and the BBC daily, and I always learn new things, and I even listen to stories and reports about things that I think is boring, as a result, I know a bit here and there about a large variety of topics. I also read books and articles (non-fiction) about a wide variety of topics. I am able to carry on conversations about physics even though I've never taken a physics class, I know a lot about the economic state of India, even though I am not an economist and have never been to India, etc. When I talk to people who aren't my peers, or who aren't NPR or BBC enthusiasts like me, I often can't have a nice intelligent conversation about a wide variety of topics. Sometimes I think people get so comfortable in their lives, and don't bother to branch out because they think it's useless knowledge to them, that they get stuck in a mental/intellectual rut which leads to them being ignorant about things that aren't in their immediate radar. Ignorance, and lack of will to correct the ignorance, to me is what makes people stupid. (And, I'll say, some people can be really smart about certain things, but not about others--like my dad, he's really smart about things like welding and oil fields, yet has no will to learn more about different cultures so he's not very smart on that front, and therefore is kind of xenophobic and thinks most Muslims are terrorists, even though he has the mental ability to expand his horizons a bit more)
So, you young ones who were ambitious enough to read my wordy paragraph that I wrote at a time when I am normally fast asleep, don't worry if you feel dumb right now, as long as you are always keeping an open mind, and delving into topics that are outside of your immediate understanding or use or comfort zone, you'll soon be above the average Joe. I always felt like in school, intelligence was always stressed as someone's IQ or whatnot, but that's really not what it is at all. A high IQ does no one any good if they're not willing to use their intelligence and just put on blinders to anything that disagrees with their initial assessment of reality.
