Bar Chords on an Out-of-Tune Guitar - Patrick Hollen

People tell me I'm smart on a fairly regular basis. Especially people I don't know very well. It usually comes after I mention some obscure, useless fact filed away in my cerebral archive. I guess I know a lot about a lot of things. I guess that equals "smart."

But I don't want to be smart. I want to be brilliant.

Brilliant like Mark Twain. Brilliant like C.S. Lewis. I want to improve the lives of people I've never met. I want to create works replete with Robert Pirsig's Quality. I want to pose ideas and perspectives that will spark other thoughts and perspectives. I want to have the respect of people I respect. I want people to look at my life's work and say it meant something.

I guess I'm just afraid I'm a self-deceived poseur. That I should really be doing some mundane, ordinary job but am too afraid to admit it.

Sometimes, I really hate this multiple choice future.