Intelligence is a Privilege, Not a Gift

I was with a close friend a few days ago talking about "financial scandals." Think the Enron's of the world, or the 2008 bank bailouts that saw CEO's get massive bonuses with financial relief money. Low of the low, scummy, dishonest, etc. There are not words that describe how many lives have been ruined by the concept of money throughout history. Humans will forever be seeking ways to improve their lives at whatever cost necessary. 

Do I blame them? Sure, maybe a part of me judges them based on morality. But at the same time, another side of me is secretly accepting that they are brilliant. There are so many intelligent and witty individuals in this world that its naïve to think all of them act for good. We judge everyone through a movie-style lens that says its good vs evil with no grey areas. This is unrealistic for any period of history and will always be the case.

Later that day, I re-watched one of my favorite movies, Spider-Man 2 by Sam Raimi. A masterpiece and the reason I am so excited for the new movie in 28 days that will hopefully feature all 3 live action actors again. 

In this film, Dr. Octavius says the line, "Intelligence is a privilege, not a gift, and it should be used for the good of mankind." This quote connected the dots between the scandals that I was thinking about 2 hours earlier. The Enron people are brilliant but evil. They have skill sets that allowed them to manipulate billions of dollars, run national companies, and convince people they are correct, something the average person can not do. Do we idolize them? No, not at all. But study and analyze the how? We should so we ensure individuals like them are stopped at the start.

Individuals are given the opportunity to use their opportunities for good or evil each day. It is up to us to choose the why. Intelligence is the path to fortune or deceit, choose wisely.

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