Dumb or Dumber

By: Dylan Pinkney, Molly Hanrahan and Ben Butcher

I'm just going to say off the bat that we have added a new word to the dictionary in this blog: smartness.  It's now a real word in our minds, so don't worry. It's not grammically incorrect (and yes, 'grammically' was on purpose. It was a joke. Laugh for my sake, please?).

We don't think that the smartness of a person affects how many friends they have.  Based on Dylan's personal experience, being smart does not at all affect how many friends he has. Molly believes that it doesn't matter how smart you are academically because everyone is smart in some way. Our differences and the different ways that we are smart set us apart, and that's what makes it hard to make friends, not the actual smartness. Charlie is very different because of his mental disability, so it's harder for him to make friends. Ben believes that everyone is smart in their own way, and if everyone is smart in their own way, then eventually everyone will have friends. Friends will be created because of the things/smartness that people have in common, not the smartness itself. It's those things that people have in common that creates friends, not necessarily IQ smartness.  Charlie, with his mental disability, doesn't have much in common with other people, so he doesn't have as many friends.

"Smart" people have challenges just like anybody. It may not be with school and finding a job, but they can still have challenges with their health and other stuff. For example, someone with a mental illness like Charlie could get cancer, and someone who is as smart as Albert Einstein could also get cancer. Something like being in a car crash or breaking a bone while skiing could also affect both "dumb" and "smart" people.  Everyone will always have to face challenges.  Whether they are very complicated or very easy, everyone will face them and everyone will have to conquer them.  It doesn't matter if they "dumb" and it doesn't matter if the "smart", everyone will face challenges. Also, there are different challenges that come with being smart. If you're smart, you might have more pressure on you, while if you're dumb you might have to work harder. And the opposite can also be true. Everyone has challenges, and every person's differences, whether good or bad, come with different challenges. We all just have to accept that everyone is going through hardships, and when we have it bad, we aren't alone, because others have it bad too.