Tuesday, December 16, 2008

The Levar Burton Effect

The most frustrating part of having a genius level IQ is the constant discrimination. Sadly, most people are too clueless to even realize it's happening.

If you're taller, or faster, or stronger you get to just be taller, faster, or stronger. No one expects a hulking person to pretend everyone he interacts with is equally capable of lifting things. Not true if you're smart. Being smart is like being black.

"It's cool. Just try to be non-threatening if you want people to like you."

I walk on eggshells with the universe. Friends, family, passersby... they all expect me to treat their goofy ideas as if they were equally valid. If they are, I do. If they're not, I'm still expected to coddle. So generally speaking, I coddle.

It's an extremely frustrating way to live. It fosters an internal sense of hostility that I can't always hide. It attaches a clock to most of my relationships, because I can't keep it up forever.

And on top of everything, somehow I'm considered the arrogant one. That is, of course, exactly backwards.