'Tis Folly To Be Wise...

This little piece here is actually two e-mails; the first one is one my good friend Farah sent to me, the second one being what I wrote back. I included her's because I felt it would help readers to better understand what I was getting at in my e-mail. I copy/pasted my reply to Farah because I thought that many others could benefit from my theory that this world is all about how well-to-do you look to other people, how you're grades are, what people think of you...and that's not right. This world is indeed all about that, but it should not be. Sickening, no?

MESSAGE FROM FARAH
About today, I was just memorizing formulas for my Chemistry test which I took
today and I just hope that they don't slip away from my mind just like last
time. I'm cool now, I just get nervous when it comes to grades because, I'm
afraid of what my whole family will think when I'm not doing well.

Strange, we just got back in school and the weekend is near already! Are you
doing anything interesting this weekend? I'm not, except attending the crew meeting for the musical. That's all I have to say so, please write back as soon as
possible.
Ciao!

MESSAGE IN REPLY TO FARAH'S E-MAIL
Honey, about these grades of your's...

You shouldn't stress too much. Stress only makes things worse. Do NOT be afraid! Farah, I can't tell you enough how much more important your emotional and mental wellbeing and happiness are than flipping grades. I'm not saying to forget all about school, but please, think about WHY you're afraid--if it's because you think your family will think you're stupid, well,that's tragic. You're not stupid, and anyone who can't see that is an downright moron. If you think it's because they'll assume you don't try hard, dang, Farah! I've never seen anyone try as hard in school as you! Grades are empty matters of generalization. Anyone who tries to fit intelligence and success around a grading scale is missing out on a lot of life. Intelligence CANNOT be classified into the categories of A, B, C, D, or F. Real intelligence is far more profound and broad, and sadly, that fact seems to have escaped us. As for success, damn--if I ever meet the person who decided to fit success into a grading scale, I'm going to kick his ass up over his elbows. Success is NOT about being able to find the square root of 342,768,456,924.0089356 in three seconds and graduating valedictorian of Harvard. Success is being happy with what is right for you, and ONLY what is right for you--not what other people try to tell you is right for you. Success is about finding your own strengths and inner passions--not about others trying to strengthen passions that are not there.

What I'm saying, Farah, is that I love you too much to let you study yourself to death, and I almost refuse to let you conform to what others want for you instead of what you want for you.

But that's enough preaching from me...