There was once a young man, son of a doctor, who possessed incredible intelligence. The incredibly intelligent young man excelled in all manners of study and thought. With ease he could tackle the most obscure questions and dazzle people with his astounding memory and encyclopedia like mind. But along with his inherited intelligence he also received his father’s affinity towards alcohol and he loved to drink. A regular at parties and social gatherings the young man’s ability to drink his peers under the table was second only to his intellect which allowed him not only to out last the party but wittily mock his light weight friends as they stumbled around and passed out all over the house. But as youth goes, it went, and soon the young mans friends began passing on the parties. Worse than that, they all began to warn him to slow down on his drinking because at his rate he was going to have problems. Annoyed by the warnings from people far less intelligent than he, the young man disputed with his companions, irritated by their newly acquired temperance. Being as smart as he was, he begun arguing against their medical ideas knowing he was far more familiar with medical science than they. He informed them of how unfounded their ideas about the effects of alcohol were and how they have bought into the medical industries demonization of humanities favorite pass time. He scrutinized them saying “think for your selves. You just follow like sheep believing what they told you.” He pointed out the people in Europe who could amazingly drink as much as they wanted and lived very long lives. He pointed out all the flaws in alcohol research because he was so familiar with all the studies. He noted and made known the inconsistencies with various studies and effectively discredited the prominent doctors that led the research. He convincingly debunked all evidence, even when the evidence seemed concrete, calling all previous assumptions about past ideas into question. No one could argue with him and he made fools out of anyone who tried. Even silencing a few educated doctors for his brilliance was unmatched and his gift for debate was genius. Some he convinced and they loved him for by him they could throw temperance to the wind and did so with clear consciences for their young friend was so smart so surly he would know. The others that did not buy his ideas stopped coming around for even though they did not agree with his ideas they could not argue or stand against his intellectual gifts.
But the years passed by and one day the man who now was not so young anymore, upon a visit to the doctor found out he had liver cancer and it was spreading at a rapid pace. Reflexively the brilliant mans mind went into argument mode, lashing out a bid to debate, but the treating doctor did not engage for what was there was there no matter what was argued. Realizing he could not debate indifferent reality, the brilliant man found himself in terrifyingly unfamiliar territory, for before this there was nothing his intellect could not thwart. To add insult to injury as he laid in the hospital he received word that all his friends were coming to visit because his diagnosis did not give him much time. Not wanting to see them, for fear that they would gloat and tell him “I told you so”, the brilliant man begrudged their visiting, but upon arrival when he saw them with tears and genuine looks of concern he realized no one was going to gloat, for the severity of what was happening far outweighed pokes of pride and vanity.
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Explanation This parable was written to illustrate how emotional wants and desires can rule even the most brilliant people. In some cases a persons own intelligence or physical gifts and abilities can be used to further their own desires. But in the end “wisdom is justified by her children.” In the end, what is true will become apparent no matter how brilliantly gifted someone is in skills of debate or manipulation of data to further and continue personal wants and desires.
