Am I Smart?

Am I Smart? This is the question I was asked to answer for a grad class I'm taking this summer. I was asked to answer it and then give reasons to support my answer. I found it to be an interesting question, and realized I hadn't ever logically thought through the answer. So, here are my ponderings...

That question can have many different slants. Do I consider myself smart? Do others perceive me as smart? Do my colleagues view me as smart? Do my students think I am smart? What did my grades show in school? In relation to each of these perspectives on the question, my answer is yes, I am smart.

I think the fact that I have always enjoyed school and studying, combined with the fact that my grades were always above average settled that question in my mind not far into elementary school. I never wrestled much with the question because everyone around me – family, teachers and friends – answered it affirmatively before I even was old enough to realize the importance of that answer. Now that I am forced to think through the question and come up with the reason behind the answer I find myself pondering – what is the true meaning of “smart” and how can that be assessed.

I guess the first kind of “smart” that we encounter is likely to be book-smart. As a kindergartener I learned to read quickly and became a voracious reader throughout elementary and junior high. My grades in a variety of subjects kept me on the honor roll throughout school. I also started piano lessons at the age of six and quickly became one of my piano teacher’s showcase students. When I received my first “encore” I was too little to know what an honor that was and much to the mortification of my dear mother, I refused to re-appear. Sports took over my life in high school – soccer ranking at the top of the list. I was never the MVP, but I didn’t have any trouble holding my own. When I got to college I was excited to pursue my lifelong dream of learning French. I studied for one semester and then packed my bags of Bordeaux, France. In two months I had mastered the language enough to spend four hours talking to the French passenger next to me on the train to Paris. At the end of our conversation he was shocked to discover I had been studying French for only six months. Of course, the perfectionnement took much longer! After college I moved back to France for a while and then on to Belgium. I returned to the USA for three years to work as a marketing assistant before finding my current adventure in Morocco. I have always been pretty successful at whatever I have tried from learning a language, to learning to play an instrument, to learning to swing dance and rock climb or to use a new program on the computer. So yes, I consider myself intelligent.

All that said, there are times when I stop and am amazed at the enormity of things I know little to nothing about. My friends Amy and Rick have a farm. I’ve spent two summers living with them. They don’t speak French or play the piano. Neither of them has a college degree, yet they are role models of wisdom to me. They know God and they understand people. The lives of many around them have been enriched by their wise counsel. They also know nature. Amy knows just which week is the best for planting strawberries in the spring and when to cut the hay to give it enough time to dry and bail before rain hits. She can tell her flower customers which plants to put in sunny areas and whether their problems are due to too much fertilizer or water or shade. I hated answering the phone at the farm because I never knew how to answer any of the questions she handles. I guess “smart” has different faces and I’m glad we each have the choice of which one to mirror.