In Pearl Buck's novel Pavilion of Women published in 1948, protagonist Madame Wu recalls a conversation she once had with her beloved and wise father-in-law about the nature of intelligence. Old Gentleman says to her,
"This matter of intelligence--it is so great a gift, so heavy a burden. Intelligence, more than poverty and riches, divides human beings and makes them friends or enemies. The stupid person fears and hates the intelligent person. Whatever the goodness of the intelligent man, he must also know that it will not win him love from one whose mind is less than his." (Emphasis mine)
Barack Obama, take note. You will not win the love of those obstructionist Republican congressmen who seek to bring you down. It's time to speak to the rest of us as the fellow intelligent humans that we are and govern from your head and not from your heart.
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