relative cleverness

Just because people you hang around with are clever doesn't mean you will be, but theres nothing wrong with not being as clever as others as long as you are being the best you can be. Obviously you may learn some things of others so you could get to know things you didn't know before.. but it doesn't mean you are going to be just like them. Being yourself is more important in my opinion though.

Oh, I do not like to hang out with stupid people, it just makes me mad all over. I know I am smarter than a lot of people I hang around with. I also tend to look for some of the smarter and more fun people here on MyLot.

The key here is that you have to surround yourself with all types and not focus on the ego at all. Just expose yourself to all types of people and experiences and you will have a rich life without even having to travel very far at all. I think its good to have friends from all walks of life and varying ranges of intelligence. There is something to be learned from everyone even if it is how NOT to be.

But have you hung around people who are stupid but think they are intelligent? For example the brother of you-know-who faxed me a letter yesterday that he obviously thinks is very clever. He expects me to respond by mail agreeing with him. I have not yet responded even though my stomach is churning and I feel nauseous. Now he thinks that I am stupid but I know that he is. He will be the recipient of one of my brilliant letters when I choose to respond. In the mean time he can stew a little or a lot. Preferably in boiling water Do you know that I do not remember ever being bored? If I am with a boring person socially my brain is elsewhere whilst I am nodding and smiling and making generic responses like "How very interesting', or 'really?' In fact the greatest compliment my husband ever gave me in our life together was that in my company, he was never bored. How great is that?

I'm a person who likes to have intelligent conversations. Sadly the majority of my friends are not exactly what you would call clever, or to put it a better way, I know more than they do. Sometimes when we're all talking and I say something which to me is general knowledge, they say 'wow! you're so smart!' I must admit I get bored sometimes. I try not so say much to my friends now. I let them do the talking and I just listen. One reason is because I remember having a conversation with one of my friends where she didn't know what a shooting star was, and I remember blurting out 'YOU don't know what a shooting star is?', but I honestly didn't mean anything bad by it. She went silent, and only then did I realize how conscious she was of the knowledge difference between us. What is funny is that I don't think about how smart I am compared to my friends, but I know they think about how dumb they are compared to me, mostly because they told me so. So now even though it's boring for me, I have the type of conversations that they normally do. They may be a bit dense but they're still my friends.

cleverness should not be measured by the people around you since you can have company of people people having different level of intelligence and you may prefer to be with people lower cleverness than yours so try to be in touch with all sorts of person because it is necessary to increase your self esteem (which less intelligent persons will do for you) and always benchmark yourself by comparing to someone who is more intelligent and challenging conversations helps the most. so enjoy life and don't confine yourself to limited group of people as this will make your knowledge limited.

Dang you found me out! This is why I am a bartender!

hi jb I think I would go completely bonkers if all the p eople I was around were stupid like some living here at G old Crest. oh it wo uld jack up your self esteem but also might actually dumb down your own brain power as you never had a really wonderful making you think conversation like I have with several people here who are very intelligent. it is more fun to try to keep up with an intelligent person than feel smart compared to the dumb ones around you/ I really do not care to be around stupid people all the time as I like to use what intelligence I have to talk with more intelligent people.

Yes, that third one, I'd be totally bored...

Hi jb! I think a lot depends on how exclusive the selection of friends is. They say that variety is the spice of life, so why not have some of both? When you hang out with friends who you judge to be smarter...do you wonder if they are doing it for their self esteem?

Hello, Judith. One thing that would worry me about having dense friends would be this. If I was at their house and they were really dense, they might not realise that my vodka glass was empty. On home ground, it's fine, because I can help myself, and if they're really thick, they might not even notice that I didn't offer them a vodka, so I get to drink it all. You have to consider the important things here.

hahah! i love the title and the first sentence. interesting! but to be honest i was told by my brothers not to hang a lot with these kind of people because i wont grow as a person. hahaha sorry to negate you pal, but in my opinion i think the disadvantages still outweighs. =)

And finally i would lose my own intelligence and be dumb like them. As being the smart one, I think you should be the one influencing them to become smarter and no the other way around. One should not be flattered when being called intelligent among the fools, but rather should be humbled by this.

As good as that all sound you got to remember if your hanging around a lot of dumb people then when your out in public or something along those lines then you end up feeling embarassed and dumb for hanging out with these people in public in the first place!lol It's always good to keep one slow friend in a group just for the purpose you mentioned!lol

Yes. Naturally.... hmmmm scratches head. What was the question?

As I fully scribe to the adage; " a product of one's environment" I therefore like to choose my surroundings...and that would include all manner of stimulus for provoking thot! No battle of wits with an unarmed foe, for me! But then I do wonder about myself, when I choose "a blue-bunny" to put on an IQ pedestal..LOL! As for my id needing garnishing with "idiocy"....hmmm, there's a correlation in those words...best I leave this alone..I am digging a deeper bunny hole! Cheers!

haha~ i totally agree with you. well, i'm not sure if the advantages would outweigh the disadvantages of having dense friends. but i would rather choose, well not also intelligent friends, but friends who can talk about anything and know a lot as well. i may not be the smartest, i accept that, but at least my mind won't go dull and i'd be learning new things.