Too Much Brain Ain't Too Good For Ya.

(An entry in between class and lunch).

Aunt says; You're a smart kid. No need to believe her because I know better how can I be a smart kid when I'm always the last in class. A smart kid is like Ibrahim bin Long, or Suhaimi bin Putih, or Nor Azmi bin Shamsuddin or Aminuddin bin Ros. I know they're smart because they are always top of the class and there's no way you can beat them. Not in a million years. But I'm smart enough to know that when Aunt says; you're a smart kid, she wants me to drag a huge branch of daun nangka that got blown off by a big wind that comes around this time of the year when it is musim tutup kuala and the fishermen can't go out to sea to catch fish and we all have to make do with ikang sardeng and telor maseng.

But I know this much. I know that each of us has about the same amount of brain. Some of us may have a bit more, maybe two hundred and fifty grams or thereabout but not by as much as 1kg. An extra brain that much won't do a poor guy any good because he'd be too smart for himself that he won't be able to tolerate people like us who have about 750gm or thereabout of brain nicely packed in a head the size not bigger than a handball, or a honey dew.

You can't tell if the guy is smart or dumb as a teapot by the size of the head. I'm pretty sure all the smart brain surgeons in the world will agree with me that the size of the brain doesn't correlate with being smart, medium smart, very smart, or too smart. There are cases where a child with a head not bigger than an olive is smarter than a guy with the head bigger than a stadium.

But this is not the point. The point is; 99% of the people in this world has about enough brain to get by, like survive a traffic jam, price hike, government officers, taxes or politicians. Which is why 99% of the people you or I know are not bothered to talk about issues that may require us to think a little harder than we should. And so when the professor says; Mr Bergen perhaps you'd like to discuss aspects of human rights you may find the government could have violated or abused. And so I smile and say; I think human's all right and they're okay.

But the good professor isn't satisfied with my answer that he has to say something like this; What do you mean exactly by 'okay', does it mean you don't find there's anything wrong with it, or does it mean you are not affected by the events that have unfolded over the last couple of weeks?

I'm not smart enough to know where the good professor is gonna take me with those questions and so I say; Whadda ya think, prof? I know this is not a smart thing to do but really, I don't have that kinda brain to give him the kinda answer he wanna hear. Which leads me to this;

That too much brain ain't good for ya because you wanna intellectualize everything that in the end a simple thing becomes so complicated that you can't see what's in front of you. It's like you look at all the weather charts to find out about the weather when all you gotta do is just look outside the window to see if it's cloudy or sunny. As it is, I'm okay with this much brain I've got and I don't think I need more than what my head can carry.

Okay, gotta run - next class is at 3;00pm.