People often carry a lot of assumptions about others. They make assumptions about all sorts of matters based off of all sorts of perceived concepts. These assumptions are often stumbling blocks towards comradery, friendships and genuine human connection because the assumptions create such a narrow view of another person.
People make assumptions about me all the time. Based on their perception of me in the current snapshot of time, they believe they can easily extrapolate my past and my past experiences. One assumption I find particularly frustrating is the assumption that I’m “smart”. This assumption is simply not true.
Every year of my elementary school, I tried to test into the “highly capable” classes. For those of you who are not familiar, there is a test which students take and if the students score high enough then they get to be placed in “highly capable” classes with other “highly capable” students. The only time I scored high enough was during kindergarten. My parents didn’t fully understand what the program meant so I wasn’t signed up. Every year after that, I continuously failed to test into the “highly capable” classes.
I complained to my parents. I told them, “I don’t think I’m any good. I’m not very smart.” They said, “Keep trying. You never know if you give up.” I had great murmurings and complaints. No matter how hard I tried to study my school work, every year of my elementary school I failed to test into the “highly capable” classes.
I had this concept for the longest time that wasn’t very smart or wasn’t very good. That is, until I met other students from these “highly capable” classes. A lightbulb realization came to me, I am just as smart and just as capable as these students. I didn’t need a test telling me I’m not. I took a much more assertive approach towards my future.
There were people who were quite talented in particular skills. If I thought that particular skill was of interest to me, I went out of my way to learn it. I didn’t want to be robbed of the experience of living. I wanted to do it myself. If there were more difficult classes available, I went out of my way to challenge myself.
There are people who were far more talented than I was. They had far more resources and far more support. It was easy to look at where they were and be upset at where I was. But having that attitude was not profitable. I watched, and I watched carefully. I tried to understand the techniques and practiced until what I did matched up to what I’ve seen. There’s no replacement for heart and persistence.
Whether people assume that I’m smart, or I’m dumb, capable or incapable, it doesn’t matter. I never let anybody’s assumptions of me stop me from doing what I wanted to do. I don’t intend to do so now or any time in the future!
