How Do You Define Intelligence?

Whoaa…I must tell you guys, I’m writing this during my bedtime after watching tv. Why did I pick this topic to write about? I mean, in this critical hour when my eyes can just shut and enter the dreamland. Hahahahaha. Ok…let’s make this fast before my eyes are doing it again.

I do care to write about this. Because I have a CLEAR stand on how to define someone’s intelligence and I’m surprised I have not yet written anything about this yet. What motivates me is when earlier today I had a talk with a lady friend who is still deciding what to do next. She’s still very young, stopped at SPM and stuck as a general clerk in a contractor’s company. Suddenly she got so fired up about taking diploma or anything that can make her at par with others. “Whoaa, why are you so fired up, all of a sudden?”, I actually asked that to make sure if I should start my train-talk again. Hahaha.

I understand that she’s feeling left behind. She suddenly realizes that she is not so good in anything “valuable” for the job market, and not even well equipped as a person who is at least “very good” in something. Her English is pretty bad, and though she loves Maths, but her SPM doesn’t agree so. She barely got credit in all those basic subjects. Not to mention, science subjects. But to sit there and talk about how much she wants to be better, is something very intriguing. I feel that TO HAVE THAT SPIRIT is already a good sign.

Here comes the raunchy part of the conversation.

“You know what? All this certificate thing is just CRAPs. It doesn’t decide who you would end up like. It doesn’t confirm you anything, ACTUALLY. The worst part of this is, you spend all the freaking years just to see yourself as a failure. Your certificate doesn’t even define your freaking purpose as a human being, how usable you are. If you go through all this messy brain-storming of “what’s the best thing to do from here” just to be equal with those have the certificates already, I think you might want to redefine this whole thing before you waste more time. Cos at the end of the day, to waste the years just to BUY IMPRESSIONS from the people, just to make them say, “Oh, she has a degree,” it’s totally not worth it. Shut the f*cking idea about making impressions. Totally totally wrong resource to build your life on. Trust Me.”

Omigawd…did I just give someone a freaking idea how “to get lost from your own life?”

(Hahahahahaahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahaha)

How many times do you hear people complain that the degree holders are only by names? They don’t deliver in the job market. They can be top achievers in CGPA but does that define intelligence? Think again, my dear friends. They don’t know how to communicate. Their basic grammar is already very poor and they can’t express their mind verbally. They don’t even know what they want and what they worth. They I’m sorry to say but eventually you still have the LORD to thank because the things that will shine out the most are the natural talents that you are gifted with. It’s the things that NOBODY can teach you. Please allow me to MEND my phrases. I don’t say that pursuing your education is a bad idea. Hell NO. It’s indeed the way to go IF your path allows you to. I should say this because I know that there are many worthy students out there who don’t get the chance to get a place in public universities. They have to fork their freaking money to afford private college. If you are among the unfortunate ones; you don’t have the opportunities, you don’t have the money…then I would say, the future is still bright for you. My advice is that, you never stop at one thing and call it a quit. Not just because the thousands of people are after one kind of dream, it doesn’t make the dream the RIGHT one for all of them. Maybe not for you. No, no.

So when I talk to someone, I don’t actually care to know about their education level, because I am SO SURE that it has nothing to concern me, anymore than just a casual conversation. Because how the person talks to you, responds to you and the type of ideas that comes from the person’s mind are all I need to define someone’s intelligence. Other than that, you can keep your certificates inside the drawer. One of my female cousins, who spent her whole schooling years at the kampung, and she was not able to read a word after a few years of schooling, that even the kindergarten pupil can teach her how to spell correctly, You see, it’s just so easy to label her as “stupid”. That’s they way people used to label at her. After SPM, she went to town and work, doing all the labour work that she thought is suitable for her – because people make her believe that she is unworthy and stupid. I had not talked with her properly but when I finally did, I was startled by my finding. She is indeed an intelligent person. She reads between the lines. She gets it without me having to spell out everything. She gives very matured ideas that are fruitful. The way she reacts in conflicts, I even envy her! She doesn’t have panic attack and she can think very clearly in difficult times and she even laughed at me once, because she thought I was too hard on myself. Being a year younger, she is actually more matured than I am from the way she handles things. She reads the newspapers and she can even give me the details of court proceedings on the current criminal cases. Looking at her alone can leave me embarrassed! From there, she actually earns my respect.

Many out there are like that. Don’t get cheated by nice clothing and grooming – you think these people must be very smart? I seriously think that what makes a person stands out from the rest is the qualities that are developed indirectly through the years. I believe that Intelligence doesn’t just happen. It’s a by product of experiences and HOW MUCH you are taking lessons from them, and taking what’s good and bring them with you from there. I seriously believe in that. Do you hear something like, “People don’t care how much you know unless you can express them.” So it doesn’t matter how many books you read, but if you can’t express them, it won’t make a difference to the world.

But I must also say this. If I have a diploma certificate now, I WON’T feel sorry for myself. If people come to me and say, “Hey, so this is your work now? You don’t need your diploma to do a job like this. What a waste.” Ahaa…then I have backup lines for this too. The version of myself as SPM leaver and the version of myself as diploma holder – in what way you can say my version of SPM leaver is better? I might not use my diploma for the job that I’m doing now but I’m sure I won’t be doing it this good with the version of myself as the SPM leaver. So tune it how you like, I am now the better version of a human being I am though I might not be using this certificate, but the years I spent on my way to get this certificate certainly taught me many things that you people won’t get to learn if you stop at SPM. I might not use this knowledge of business study I learnt from the lecture, but it’s the process of doing assignments, groupwork, stuggling with deadlines and random group partners, getting brainwashed by lecturers¸ time management and many others – THESE are what make me a better person. You get it, my friends? So, no matter what I say about getting a certificate earlier on, NEVER FEEL SORRY that you already own one. Trust me, you’re a better person because of that.

But in the other hand, your real value is when you can polish your gifted talents. I really believe that our gifted talents are there as part of “our individual purpose” as a human being. Formal education is just a way for us to better ourselves, but we must find the assets within ourselves. Whoaa...I can go on and on but I have to stop now. Time constraint again. *giggles.

I think you guys get it, right. So, don't worry so much about “what you have” that other people can see cos it's merely impressions. It's about YOU and your true potentials that nobody can teach you. I hope you get what I mean.

Good luck everyone! :)