I’ve long been a fan of the expression (credited to many going all the way back to Confucius) that if you are the smartest person in the room, you’re in the wrong room. (I also like the one that says the smartest person in the room is the room.)
Today I was reminded that this applies to almost anything. Smart. Funny. Creative. Interesting.
I saw an advertisement in my social media feed that said, “become the most interesting woman in the room.” It was an ad for one of the many apps that reduce books to fifteen minutes or ten key nuggets of wisdom.
Two thoughts.
The first is that if I am ever the most interesting woman in the room, I am most certainly in the wrong room. How incredibly boring would that be? I am lucky enough to spend my life with women who are smart and funny and creative and kind. They are wise and witty. They are mothers and teachers and friends and daughters. They are powerful, and they are humble.
And they are way more interesting than I am. That’s why I love to be in the room with them.
The second thought I had when I saw the ad was that we may have become too busy as a society if we need apps that reduce thoughtful books to a few nuggets we can knock out on a treadmill.
No judgement if these are helpful tools for any of you. I just know that SparkNotes might get you through a test over To Kill a Mockingbird, but it will never move you to tears.
Books are meant to be savored.
Whether it’s a fiction book meant to entertain you or a self help book meant to help you grow, snippets will never provide the breadth of what the author was trying to convey.
We get ourselves in trouble when we take a sentence out of context or reference only a piece of the whole. Use the apps if they work for you, but never stop reaching for the full meaning of things.
Be That Person 