I wish people were smart

I wish people were smart. I wish that when I talked, they listened and responded constructively. I wish that intelligence was assumed so that there was no need for people to defame all else as "stupid" or disparage themselves by pointing out "fails."

I know that people have the ability to think and think deeply. I think that in many cases they work too hard to do so. But I think they should at least acknowledge when they decline to use their intellect. No more do I want to hear someone tell me one thing, refuse to listen to me explain another, and tell me I'm wrong. Engage or admit inability to judge.

The thing is, judging is rampant. Everyone judges all the time. Sometimes I think that it has become a past time, what with every action and every comment being examined for flaws and stupidity. When did we lose the ability to accept without determining rightness? Why does everyone feel this need, as if judging all proves intelligence?

Everyone's a critic and a critic is no more than a nay-sayer. To be truly intelligent is to know when you don't know and to understand when you don't understand. So when I hear something defamed as "stupid," I wonder whether that word might be better applied to the defamer, although I much prefer "willfully ignorant."