OKOS
“Okos,” my grandmother used to call me in Hungarian
When I was young and trying to sound profound
“I see what you’re trying to do; you’re trying to sound smart,”
My writing coach told me much later in grad school,
“Sometimes you carry if off brilliantly.”
A couple people even thought me a genius, though I.Q. tests have not validated the presumption
“I think that is a low reading; they have better tests, now,” my psychologist said
And I wondered why make a test if you don’t trust the results
Me, skeptical of the whole notion of genius
I.Q.
And now the degrees I carry certify me smart
And I don’t have to try
It’s easy to impress when to go for the intellect
It’s so measurable, quantifiable, easy to see
It’s all so easy
Witness the admiration our social structure bestows upon the smart
You’ll endear yourself to any mother by saying her child is smart
It’s all so easy
I had a hard time explaining to a man deprived of education
That knowing a lot isn’t intelligence; that you can be smart without school
Wisdom is a fine acquisition
Deep insights devolve from learning, coupled with reflection
As naturally as an ancient tree grows summer fruit from spring blossoms in due season
And learning can be acquired by anyone through application and motivation
The ambiguous ambition to be okos
Not necessarily smart
The wash and impression of intelligence drowns out
The song of simple goodness
What of kind, caring, good-nature, nicety?
What of love?
“Now I’m among dumb, nice people
“Instead of cruel intelligent people,”
A Yale grad told me at a church convention
I don’t know why brilliant academicians want to be so cutting
Why they don’t want to be kind, caring, good-natured, nice guys
What of soul? Of Blues?
And Miles Davis Freddy Freeloader
Lives in the same world as Bach fugues
And people love Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata and Fur Elise more
Than his mighty 3rd Symphony
And I love Bist Du Bei Mir,
Written for his wife, as much as
Bach’s Great G-Minor Fantasy and Fugue
And what of savage Nietzsche?
What of aristocracy’s progeny and their will to power?
Cutting comments twisted from intellectual cleverness
As if slave morality gives birth to
“sympathy, the kind, helping hand, the warm heart, patience, humility, and friendliness”
As if the good must be
“the safe man: he is good natured, easily deceived, perhaps a little stupid, un bonhomme
Yes, un bonhomme—a good man
No. It does not all come down to Nietzsche. and in this Nietzsche is dead wrong
Though he describes so well the desiderata I advocate and so desire to be and become
“Nice guys finish last,” they used to say
And I’ll finish last if that’s the necessary legacy of being
Nice
I don’t know what the Hungarian word is
David Fekete 