I am so damn smart, I scare me sometimes.

by Angela K. Durden


Dear Reader,

I am so damn smart, I scare me sometimes. Used to scare my ex, too, because he often said, "Well, how about that. You're sooooo smart. You know everything, don't you?"

Of course, given that I work hard on staying humble and making the most of my humility, I would try to disabuse him of those notions and would purposefully say something that would make him think he was so much smarter than me and that whatever smarta— errrr...I mean to say — whatever wisdom had fallen from my lips was purely accidental and in no way meant that he was stupid. He would then say, "You damn right, woman, and don't you forget it. Where's my coffee?"

Oh, yes, I knew just how he liked his coffee, and never forgot. Which means he benefited from my smartness but did he appreciate that?

Thank goodness I don't have to play those games anymore — especially with you, Dear Reader. Which brings us to the reason for today's column.

I've been saying it forever.

I've been writing it for years.

I even put it into a novel I wrote.

And now — finally! — agreeing with me are researchers at the American universities of Arizona, Southern Methodist, Iowa, and Indiana, and an Australian organization called First Person Consulting, whose mission statement says they are seen as "a leading contributor of services which strive towards a sustainable, just and fair world", have officially come out and said —

HELLO! WHAT I'VE BEEN SAYING!

Following the headline above were 154 comments. A perusal showed some women agreed with me, though there were the other women — you can be sure they are pussy-hat wearers — who got snarky and started with the insults. But let's focus on those who agreed. (See below.) Quite a few did not want to put their picture with their comment, preferring the old "egg head" for fear of reprisals from female coworkers. They aren't stupid. But just because one is smart does not guarantee success.

The Bible says in Ecclesiastes 9:11 that "the swift do not always win the race, nor do the mighty always win the battle, nor do the wise always have the food, nor do the intelligent always have the riches, nor do those with knowledge always have success, because time and unforeseen occurrence befall them all."

And that, Dear Reader, explains a lot. You can thank Yahweh, another writer, for that wisdom. He is smarter than your Citizen Journalist.

Citizen Journalist.  Novelist. Author of other stuff. 

Business writer.  Songwriter.  Protecting creator's copyrights.