Olivia Manning from Liverpool has scored 162 in an IQ test – which the average is 100. The 12-year old school girl has been accepted into Mensa. It is reported that her score is 2 points better than Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking. Woohoo! She is brainier than Einstein.
What a genius!
Here’s the thing: Every parent dreams of having a genius like Olivia born into the family.
Not for me. I’d rather let things go the way it’s supposed to be.
Let me explain.
A score is just a score. I don’t want to sound sour grapes but being intelligent doesn’t mean a thing… unless you put your talent and genius into good use to help humanity.
I hope Olivia can leverage on her advantage and make the world a better place. Really.
I am neutral – whether you have high IQ or low IQ. Having high IQ is like you’re good at cooking or being creative or excellent in music or something. No one is better than others. We are all born with unique talents and strengths. We have our own place in the world. We are perfect – where we are and what we are. Craving to be somebody else is the root of unhappiness and low self-esteem.
Another point that I want to drive home is calling people genius or stupid is merely another form of categorization. It’s like separating people by gender. It’s like calling people by race or skin color. It’s like labeling people by religion. It’s like judging people by what whey wear.
To me, categorizing and separating people by a certain trait is prejudice. To be honest, this is the real reason why we have social unrest and war. Because one group of people is thinking they are superior than the others. And they look down on other groups of people which don’t belong to them.
The truth is we are all equal – regardless of the country we were born into, the color of our skin, the language we speak, or even the score of our IQ test. No one is higher or superior than anyone.
I will definitely tell J and K about Olivia Manning. Not so much to highlight her intelligence but to tell them about the points that I have just told you. Because, IMHO, these values are far more important than one’s intelligence.
For a complete list of values and skills that I want my children to learn, get your hand on “The Nonconformist’s Guide to Parenting.”
You don’t need to be a genius to read it.
More details at:
The Nonconformist’s Guide to Parenting
P.S. I used to envy those who have high IQ but not anymore after I put things into the right perspective.
