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How Intelligent are You?
Proverbs 17: 28 “Even a fool who keeps silent is considered wise; when he closes his lips, he is deemed intelligent.”
Proverbs 18: 2 “A fool takes no pleasure in understanding but only in expressing his opinion.”
Proverbs 18: 15 “An intelligent heart acquires knowledge, and the ear of the wise seeks knowledge.”
How Intelligent are you? Or a better question might be what is it that makes you intelligent? Are you talented in writing and speaking, other languages, sports, arts, human relations? Can you read charts and maps, calculate math, plant gardens, build and construct, fix machinery?
Fact is, there are many types of intelligences and all of us have some of them and to varying degrees at that. The Wizard of Oz told the straw man he was intelligent; he just didn’t have a diploma. Oh, a college degree will do it then. How common is it that parents send messages to their children they are not too smart. Forced to compensate with that throughout their lives can be taxing on a person.
1 Corinthians 7: 7 “… But each has his own gift from God, one of one kind and one of another.”
Case in point, your humble college professor and contributing writer has a lot of university degrees. Must be intelligent. Asked to construct a microwave table once, my response was, “piece of cake.” Purchased one such item at Walmart with instructions and all. Bought one $5 cheaper because it required assembly. No problem since simple how to do instructions were included, so it said. 33 steps in all. Got all my tools together and after one half hour and on to step 3, I began cursing every saint I know. Forgive me Lord.
So, along comes the building janitor. Not even sure if he graduated high school. Hardly spoke English. “Carlos, can you help me?” I’m trying to put this micro wave table together and am having a heck of a time. “No problem.” - he I believed. ”Here are the instructions,” I said to him. “Oh, I don’t need that,” he replied. Pushing the instructions aside, Carlos proceeded to simply look over all the components and glanced at a picture of what the final product was supposed to look like. Within 20 minutes it was up and ready. I supposed all 33 steps were completed without reading a one, if he could read them. Smart guy. He moved on, had plumbing to take care of.
Conclusion: read the above excerpts from Proverbs again. The supposedly most intelligent person shows how stupid he is once he opens his mouth. To me and what I was taught in catechism class when a grade schooler, was to know, love and serve the Lord. You got that, you are intelligent. Everything else are God’s gifts and frosting on the cake. No cake, no frosting. Thank God I’m Catholic.
Dr. Michael J. Baglino, Ed. D. is a retired college professor, most recently an adjunct prof. in behavioral science at Palm Beach State College, Florida. He is a graduate of both Winona State University, MN and Florida International University, Miami. Michael is also a retired entertainer [singer/actor], performing primarily as a Frank Sinatra tribute artist under the name ‘Michael Matone’. A parishioner of St. Therese de Lisieux Catholic Church in Wellington, FL, Michael serves as a lector, EM, and 4th degree Knights of Columbus. He is a professional member of the Society of Catholic Social Scientists. The Baglino family, wife, children and grandchildren all live in South Florida.
He is the author of 5 books, most notably ‘From Gramsci to Freud’ and ‘The Dr. B. Reader on the Ologies’. In his books, Dr. Baglino presents a series of articles and vignettes on religion, psychology, politics and culture. He shows us that God is with us in our daily lives interweaving trials, travels, and decisions with Catholicism. Definitely not without humor, Michael presents a down to earth and Catholic perspective to so many of our contemporary issues. See www.michaelbaglino.com/speaker.
