I remember a scene from the 1980s movie Smokey and the Bandit where Burt Reynolds tells “far-more-sophisticated” Sally Fields essentially something to the effect that how dumb you are depends on what part of the world you are standing in.
Those who consider an evening out going to Broadway will have more knowledge in certain arts-related fields than someone who considers a night out going down to the local lake for a campfire. Someone who spends their life in health and wellness will have FAR more knowledge in fitness than the Captain of a 747 commercial jet. But in either case — who is smarter? It depends on a host of factors of course.
In growing up I was blessed to spend my Summers on a farm in very rural southern Illinois farming and just plain doing back-breaking work for my Uncle and my best friend then who was my cousin. The upside for me was I got to be with my best friend and we got to ride motorcycles all over God’s-green earth and have fun hanging out with the local girls down there.
The people from the area spoke with a Southern drawl and were what most would consider pretty simple folk. Everyone waved if you passed them on the street whether in a car or on foot.
We had no indoor plumbing, no running water, no TV. We got our drinking water by going to the outside well, turning a bucket attached to a rope upside down and dropping it 30 feet down into the ice-cold water. The bucket would fill with water and we pulled the bucket back up. Some of the best tasting water I have drank and I’m quite certain there was God-knows what in it from the insects and whatever that probably lived down there.
In High School my Algebra teacher told my Mother that I was the only kid he knew who was taking Auto Mechanics (as a class) and Algebra.
My growing up, my natural interests, my proclivity to be non-judgmental to people as a result of everything I was exposed to and everything within me naturally prepared me to be able to enjoy fine art while also enjoying X Games motorcycle backflips. For the record? I prefer the X Games stuff. I can maintain quality, fulfilling conversations with Ph.D.s and “simple folk” from the sticks. I truly am blessed.
This short NAPA commercial is funny to me because I think it sums up what I just spent a few hundred words typing above. Who’s smarter? The pompous yuppy team or the team of Nascar driver Michael Waltrip and NHRA driver Ron Capps? It depends on what you spend your time doing and where you are standing in the world.
LOVE IT!
http://www.leannesslifestyle.com/postcard/?pcid=napa
In health,
David Greenwalt B.Sc., CSCS
http://www.LeannessLifestyle.com