Great Wits Can be Dangerous

"Great wits are sure to madness near allied." ~ John Dryden

  

Those who are gifted are not necessarily sane or capable of life's natural successes. In fact, the more "gifted" one is the more capable of being a derelict, a loser, or insane, limiting his or her own life achievements. This is what it seems to me, for I have seen this more than once, and many times over.

Yet, what really is at the crux of this ponderance, is the painstaking realization that many who have been considered to be promising achievers, having shown great signs of intellectual or high giftedness in some way, have had no clue for, or inclination toward, how to be a success in the eyes of the society in which they share with others.

Dr. Nigel Barber, a Ph.D. in Biopsychology states that "Evidently it is in coping with the emotional conflicts of childhood that artists develop their creative muscles, so to speak. That is why so many gifted children fail to deliver creative success."
There has not been any challenges stressed upon them, about how to achieve in their lives; they are spoiled with the label, "they are special, leave them alone."

"Their lives become just too easy," says Dr. Barber. They are not accustomed to stretching themselves unless they have been completely on their own and have to strive." (Psychology Today, 12/2011).
Why is this even a post? It seems more like an exercise in thought-provoking trivialities. As a child I was mentioned by my mother all too often how intelligent I was, I was so intelligent that I was beyond reaching, so give me whatever I wanted. Of course that did not work with my elder five siblings who enjoyed torturing the youngest of them.

But contrarily, they protected me from anyone outside of the family, in fact so much so that I was a prisonerin my own room, especially since my mother was always working and we were left with each other aimlessly. My father was not home because he was a traveling salesman and preacher. So as you can demise, I was left to myself, thinking I was some kind of unique child, but depressed most of my life because my two older brothers didn't know what else to do but torture my older sister and I. I was repeatedly told how ugly, fat and stupid I was. Once I began to grow up I found I was highly intelligent alright, but not in Math. As one might surmise, Math was all high school Math teachers told us was important for a job. Well, that put me out of the running.

Instead, I had a strange difference to most of my "intelligent" school chums; I was highly intelligent in communications and negotiations, while having an exceptional insight into peoples' behaviors and habits. The problem was, no one ever told me what I could do with such talent. I graduated at sixteen, my mother on cloud nine because my conselor told her I was so intelligent I could be anything I wanted to in my life. So she went about telling everyone what a "genius" I was. The trouble is, she never told me what to do about it.

I had no idea how to fend for myself. You have to remember, all I knew was how to stay inside and watch TV; how to keep under my brothers' thumbs, how to stay quiet in my room if I didn't want to get tortured in some way, and keep out of their way until my mother got home and even then, she was preoccupied with the day to day problems of the household.

I tell you all this for.a very important reason. I want to implore you NOT to tell your children they are so smart, but to TEACH them how to fend for themselves in a world that will not help you. The world out there is only in it for its own, each human being for remuneration and of recognition. But YOU! You must learn how to survive in it, make good with the God-given gifts and talents you have and besides that learn how to brush you teeth, make your bed, figure out your checkbook, learn daily routines, learn how to do your homework in public school without listening to the dregs and dishonesty in teaching other than Mathematics, Language, and History; the rest is dung. And most of all, you have to learn how to organize your life so that you plan each step of the way, and never stray for pleasure alone, but only if it will help you be a better rendition of yourself. I hope I have enlightened your path just a little.