A Philosophy
In the movie Harvey
Jimmy Stewart did a magnificent job of delivering his character when he said, "'In this world, Elwood, you must be oh, so smart or oh, so pleasant.' Well, for years I was smart. I recommend pleasant. And you may quote me."
I remember I was at a party a number of years back held by one of the guys I had used to work at summer camp with. At the party I saw a number of guys my age standing on the porch smoking, and the entire apartment was filled with young people three four or five years younger than us. I was a pretty jaded angry man those days. I wasn't successful with the ladies. I had dropped out of college and was working full time in a steel ware house. I don't think I was even old enough to legally go out to the clubs so the high light of my week would be to hit a local tavern where they figured if you were old enough to work in the warehouse you were certainly old enough to toss back a few cold ones in the bar. I was more than a little world weary and found the enthusiasm and idealism of the younger people to be particularly grating.
I wanted to find a little joy at their expense. I wanted to crush a little idealism. It wouldn't have been particularly hard. They looked up to us like older siblings except we weren't actually their siblings, allowing us to be cool, whereas siblings are by definition, not cool. I could have chipped away at their ideas and ideals for as long as they sat and listened, but my friends stopped me. They told me to leave em alone. They are just kids. Only now do I appreciate the irony of that statement in that we were all very much still kids, and not particularly older or wiser.
When I was nineteen and full of spit and vinegar I wanted to smart, caustic witty, to hold my intellectual superiority out for all to see ( I was quite egotistical about my intellect, it took me a long time to realize I am no Einstein waiting to happen).
Now that I'm thirty, minus a ton of brain cells and probably at half the testosterone level, I find myself in agreement with Elwood P. Dowd (Jimmy Stewarts Character). I'd much rather be pleasant. I don't need to tare people down. I don't need to feel superior.
Then again one might say Dowd was an non functional alcoholic who hallucinates a six foot rabbit. Maybe not the best model of behavior, but it suits me.
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Jimmy Stewart did a magnificent job of delivering his character when he said, "'In this world, Elwood, you must be oh, so smart or oh, so pleasant.' Well, for years I was smart. I recommend pleasant. And you may quote me." I remember I was at a party a number of years back held by one of the guys I had used to work at summer camp with. At the party I saw a number of guys my age standing on the porch smoking, and the entire apartment was filled with young people three four or five years younger than us. I was a pretty jaded angry man those days. I wasn't successful with the ladies. I had dropped out of college and was working full time in a steel ware house. I don't think I was even old enough to legally go out to the clubs so the high light of my week would be to hit a local tavern where they figured if you were old enough to work in the warehouse you were certainly old enough to toss back a few cold ones in the bar. I was more than a little world weary and found the enthusiasm and idealism of the younger people to be particularly grating.
I wanted to find a little joy at their expense. I wanted to crush a little idealism. It wouldn't have been particularly hard. They looked up to us like older siblings except we weren't actually their siblings, allowing us to be cool, whereas siblings are by definition, not cool. I could have chipped away at their ideas and ideals for as long as they sat and listened, but my friends stopped me. They told me to leave em alone. They are just kids. Only now do I appreciate the irony of that statement in that we were all very much still kids, and not particularly older or wiser.
When I was nineteen and full of spit and vinegar I wanted to smart, caustic witty, to hold my intellectual superiority out for all to see ( I was quite egotistical about my intellect, it took me a long time to realize I am no Einstein waiting to happen).
Now that I'm thirty, minus a ton of brain cells and probably at half the testosterone level, I find myself in agreement with Elwood P. Dowd (Jimmy Stewarts Character). I'd much rather be pleasant. I don't need to tare people down. I don't need to feel superior.
Then again one might say Dowd was an non functional alcoholic who hallucinates a six foot rabbit. Maybe not the best model of behavior, but it suits me.
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posted by Rich Rosenthal II at 11:16 PM
5 Comments:
Great post. I like the idea of being pleasant rather than smart....because smart people that think they're smart usually appear dumb anyway and nobody likes to be around a smart dummy.
hehe..this reminds me of an episode of dr phil I watched once (YES..I am that lame).
he said "would you rather be right, or happy?"
asking myself that question often keeps me from running my mouth :)
Carrie, you don't happen to iron while watching Dr. Phil, do you? i hate that i watch it too....
I take it that i should watch the movie?
hahaha..iron? whats that? :p
Ahhh. The wise assertions of 30. I think you're right. I have less need to prove how smart I am now that I'm in my thirties. I'm content to listen to my twenty year old counterparts and smile. I don't give advice unless I'm asked. And, it's not unenjoyable to watch the odd twenty-year-old know it all fall on their ass once in a while. But not because I told them so. Just because I knew, and let them make their own mistakes anyway.
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