Hey, here�s an addendum to the last entry.

I worked with a man who changed the way I thought 
about people.

I�ll call him �Fred,� though I doubt there�s much 
need to preserve his anonymity. 

Fred was pretty dumb.  If everyone was as kind 
and careful as they should be in a perfect and 
nonsensical world, we could go ahead and 
replace �pretty dumb� with �afflicted with a 
medium-grade learning disorder.�

It�s not a perfect world, and few people are kind 
or careful.  Fred wouldn�t afflict himself 
with a medium-grade learning disorder, and I 
won�t either.  He was just dumb.  He struggled 
with simple concepts that came like a snap to 
most people.  He had to work hard to function 
at a level that most people sink to.

He was one of the happiest, most cheerful, 
pleasant, self-actualized people I ever met.  
He changed the way I felt about the importance 
of intelligence.

Fred was perfectly aware of his strengths and 
weaknesses.  He wasn�t so dumb that he didn�t 
know that life had been unfair to him... but 
he also wasn�t dumb enough to waste time and 
energy railing against the injustice of it 
all.

I hate people who rail against the injustice of 
it all.  What a fucking waste.  Tell me 
something I don�t know.

Anyway, Fred was happy.  I never asked him if 
people picked on him when he was a kid... 
maybe they didn�t.

But I think you and I know better than that.  I 
think Fred was hounded mercilessly, cruelly 
and deliberately through most of his 
adolescent life.  I�d be willing to bet money 
on it.


The last time I talked to Fred, he�d just gotten 
a pay raise to the highest level available to 
a non-management employee.  He had gotten married a 
few months earlier, and had a son on the way.  
He glowed.

I have a hard time sympathizing with 
people.

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