Insight #158 (Revised 29 April 2025)
“Wacky, maybe. But he’s our brightest bulb.” (Microsoft Copilot). . .
I am constantly unpleasantly surprised by bright people. And by how many of them are in high office. But then I remind myself that bright is not the same as wise and I feel slightly better. For a while.
I once thought bright people were right because they were, well, bright. But then I realized they simply blind us with their unwavering sense of rightness. They see absolute truths where what-ifs daze and confuse a simple mind like mine. I see maybes where they see certainties. They have The Answer when I have many. They see black and white while I am stuck in gray.
I am always confused when bright people see facts where proof remains illusive. And when they believe wholeheartedly in what has me two-minded. If only my life is as clear-cut as they believe it to be.
Bright insists on one answer, the answer. But surely the gray zone of uncertainty triggers the what-if thinking of many possible answers. Too much bright and we lose the shadows. And where do possibilities hide? In the shadows, in the gray zone.
The grayer I become, the more I realize that the only one right answer is that there is seldom only one right answer. And thus maybe, just perhaps, bright is not the same as wise. (But I’m still in two minds about that.)
Now Ask Yourself: Where did you recently sacrifice wisdom just to appear smart? How did you make amends?
Welcome to my side of the nonsense divide.
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Quote of the Moment: “I could have been smart, but I got older just in time.” The Chief Nonsense Officer
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