
Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest
thing I know.
- Ernest Hemingway, author and journalist,
Nobel laureate (1899-1961)
Hemingway,
who took his own life in 1961, knew his share of both intelligent people and of
nhappiness. He lived through two world wars, the Great Depression, four wives
and an unknown number of failed romantic relationships, none of which would
help him to develop happiness if he knew how. As Hemingway’s quote was based on
his life experience, I will base the following speculation on both my personal
and my professional experience as a sociologist. Not enough study exists to
quote on this subject.
Western
society is not set up to nurture intelligent children and adults, the wayit
dotes over athletes and sports figures, especially the outstanding ones.While
we have the odd notable personality such as Albert Einstein, we also have many
extremely intelligent people working in occupations that are considered among
the lowliest, as may be attested by a review of the membership lists of Mensa
(the club for the top two percent on intelligence scales). Education systems in
countries whose primary interest is in wealth accumulation encourage heroes in
movies, war and sports, but not in intellectual development. Super intelligent
people manage, but few reach the top of the business or social ladder.
Children
develop along four streams: intellectual, physical, and emotional (psychological)
and social. In classrooms, the smartest kids tend to be left outof more
activities by other children than they are included in. They are
"odd," they are the geeks, they are social outsiders. In other words,
they do not develop socially as well as they may develop intellectually or even
physically where opportunities may exist for more progress.
Their emotional
development, characterized by their ability to cope with risky orstressful
situations, especially over long periods of time, also lags behind that of the
average person.
Adults tend
to believe that intelligent kids can deal with anything because they are
intellectually superior. This inevitably includes situations where the
intelligent kids have neither knowledge nor skills to support their experience.
They go through the tough times alone. Adults don't understand that they need
help and other kids don't want to associate with kids the social leaders say
are outsiders.
As a result
we have many highly intelligent people whose social development progresses much
slower than that of most people and they have trouble coping with the stressors
of life that present themselves to everyone. It should come as no surprise that
the vast majority of prison inmates are socially and emotionally underdeveloped
or maldeveloped and a larger than average percentages of them are more
intelligent than the norm. Western society provides the ideal incubator for
social misfits and those with emotional coping problems. When it comes to
happiness, people who are socially inept and who have trouble coping
emotionally with the exigencies of life would not be among those you should
expect to be happy.
This may be
changing in the 21st century as the geeks gain recognition as people with great
potential, especially as people who might make their fortune in the world of
high technology. Geeks may be more socially accepted than in the past, but
unless they receive more assistance with their social and emotional
development, most are destined to be unhappy as they mature in the world of
adults. People with high intelligence, be they children or adults, still rank
as social outsiders in most situations, including their skills to be good mates
and parents.
Moreover,
they tend to see more of the tragedy in the communites and countriesthey live
in, and in the world, than the average person whose primary source of news and
information is comedy shows on television. Tragedy is easier to find than
compassion, even though compassion likely exists in greater proportion in most
communities.
Source:
Writing by Bill Allin
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