Genius Not At Work
Genius Not at Work
I have a son who is an intellectual genius. And I have the test scores to prove it - or within two points anyway. And they told me at the time (age 4) that he was too young for that test and it might reflect an inaccurate result - but that an inaccurate result would be too low. So at worst he's only 2 points beneath Einstein. By the way, Einstein, that great underachiever, barely made it into the "genius" category. Squeaked under the wire with the lowest possible score !
So Petey told me the funniest story from his high school days today. He mentioned the SAT or the AP History test, and how it bugged him that he only got a 4 on that one (instead of the easy and expected 5's on all the others). He blamed it on the essay portion.
Now, my son is an exceptional essayist, which is rare to be a really good writer when you are clearly a Math and Science guy. But that's Petey - absolutely no area in which he doesn't excel. I really felt
for his younger brother, I can tell you. But Petey was also a bookworm, or at least an avid reader. "Bookworm" has that connotation of nerdy, scrawny, pale, no friends, completely useless at sports, intelligent but impractical, and definitely not charismatic. So that can't be Petey, since that implies areas less than optimal or perfect.
And so, this hilarious story following is all the more precious to me, because of its extreme rarity.
Advanced Placement History test asked him to......
Explain the reasons behind Martin Luther and his schism with the Catholic church.
(Confident Genius) Petey: "Well, that would be over the selling of indulgences.
And why? To pay for the expensive St. Peter's Ballista."
Screech..... !!! What ?!!
So I asked him, ....with his childhood background in historical weapons, from the Robin Hood days of his childhood, and the computer games like Caesar III... 'Did you know what a "ballista" was?'
Genius Petey: "Yeah, sure - Medieval weapon, along with siege weapons. I'm pretty sure it's like a huge crossbow on wheels."
Mom: 'Wait a minute... So you're telling me that it wasn't that you just had the term mixed up, it wasn't
that you meant "basilica"?'
Humble and Honest Genius Petey (with chagrin, and humor): quot;No ! I wrote this entire, well-composed, well-defended, intelligent argument about how they felt they needed and were building some super-expensive ballista, to honor St. Peter."
hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
He does have a bit of an excuse, once you stop ROFL-ing. Wasn't it just the historical era before that in Church history that the powers that be in the Church WERE actually that militant? Crusades or Dark Ages or whatever.
Just. Too. Cute !!!