In
A
Bucket?
I took the eSpin Personality Test. Results were as anticipated. Result: “The Thinker” 17% of adults tested fell under this category.
The results page says: "Your smart and you know what? You totally know it. You value brains above almost anything else, which is pretty good. (Better than valuing, say, booties). But you also tend to get cocky about your own intelligence." I stood and said: “Guilty as charged Your Honor.”
Once upon a time I was in junior high school.The school gave all of us an IQ test. Now I was the type of student that just didn't care about grades in general. In fact you could say at graduation I slipped through with, well I don't know.Seems to me something like my grade point average was so low it wouldn't average. Grin dog-gone-it! I just didn't care way back then. In those days all I wanted to do was just get by. So that's all I did. No, I wasn’t lazy. I just didn’t care. Anyway I took the test like everyone else. On the scale 138 being the threshold of a genius I scored 120 something. Oh come on! Give me some space. Forgetting a single digit in 35+ years isn’t bad. Reminds me of the words of a song from many years ago. “I want you, I need you, but there ain’t no way I’m ever gonna love you. Now don’t be sad Cause two out of three ain’t bad” Artist: Meat Loaf. Time has erased the third digit of the score from my memory. I'm just lucky it wasn't the first digit!
I had a male teacher; he was working his way through the classroom telling us our results. When he got to me he shared the score, and that was the entire positive he could bring himself to say. He went on to elaborate on how, from time to time, an anomaly occurs. In other words, it appeared to me the inference was, some people get lucky and make good guesses. He said he had consulted with some of my other teachers and the consensus was that this must be one of those anomalies.
Have you ever inflated a balloon and then released the end? I'm thinking "Why do you build me up Buttercup, baby Just to let down…?” Artist: The Foundations. Anyway after an aggressive attempt to totally destroy my self-esteem he retreated and went on to another gentleman in the class that scored just above me, praised him relentlessly. This took place in the classroom with all present. I was so humiliated. But you see I knew something he didn't. Those answers were genuine. I knew they came straight from my mind without reservation or flaw!
Well time passed. Out of school and into the work force. A major worldwide steel corporation hired me in 1972. They gave all new hire employees a battery of testing, 3 full paid days. After working there a few months I was approached by my supervisor and told they had a different job for me. But I had to be cleared through HR before being considered.
This was a special assignment job where they typically placed most future supervisors. I wanted to get in on a little of that action! So I went to Human Resources as directed to get my approval. I told the man in the office what I was there for. He looked at me as if to say “Yeah, right. What are you going to do with that”. But regardless of his thoughts his mouth spoke these words, "Back in a moment". He went to a back room. When he returned he had a totally different disposition and a stunned look on his face. He said shaking his head in the no fashion, "You won't have any problem with that job." I left there thanking Wow! What if the test back in school was correct? Yes, I got the job. Reminiscing I’ve always wondered if my long hair had influenced his opinion of me. That would be the same long hair that he had told me just a few months earlier: “Get it cut, come back after lunch, then I’ll hire you.” I did! He did.
Time passed and the computer age became a part of our everyday lives. I’ve always loved new technology. One late night about 6 years ago I thought “Why not? Let’s go for it!” I logged onto eMode.com, now known as Tickle.com, and gave it a spin. Man, what a difference in ones self-esteem. Now I know, without question, my teachers were mistaken. Who knows, maybe they were looking at the world through their own colored glasses. I scored well on the scale. According to eMode that ranks me in their Ben Franklin class or group. I’ve always liked OLE Ben. Cool!
If you’re a teacher or professor remember you are handling delicate cargo and yes, it’s cargo on the move! Handle it gently. Let me go on to say I am not blaming my teachers. I am responsible for, and accept the responsibility of my own choices throughout life. I have and always shall. BUT I also know without doubt, had I not been taught in school, on this one day in particular, that I was stupid and didn’t have brains enough for even the minor things of life. I may have conquered both high school and college and sported a different attitude about life. I entered college because I had greater aspirations. Unfortunately I still had the same mindset.
Mr. X, I forgive you.
Stupid, Stupid, Stupid walks off into the sunset.
What colors do I see now? I see the man who spent 47 years of his life with an Intelligence Quotient of 124 thinking he was no better than $1.24. I have always been confounded as to why am I so much better than the average guy at solving problems? And why do I view and comprehend things differently than others around me? “ My soul was constantly crying out: What’s wrong with me? Why am I so different?” Now I understand, all the knowledge contained herein was locked up in that little Shinny Brass Bucket! When I took the eMode.com test and the real power of my intellect was revealed to me then all things were poured out. The Shinny Brass Bucket was emptied and never again will I be contained by the fear of others.
I just wanted to share a little story about how one voice, does in fact, have a bearing on a person’s whole life.
Nor could I resist the remark eSpin posted, “But you also tend to get cocky about your own intelligence.”
“Yeah I do.” Smile. Gee, I'm so rowd! Timothy G. Me