What would you say if I told you the majority of “black” folks just aren’t all that bright?

You would probably come away with the wrong message.

I get it, it sounds inflammatory—and if I were to leave things there, you could probably fairly count it so.

I’m not going to “let that sleeping dog lie,” though.

You see, the same thing can be said for most “white” folks too!…and most Hispanics, and most Asians, and so on, and so on.

It seems so plain, yet It’s not something most folks even consider—much less understand.

The old joke is, “half of all the people on Earth, are below average.”

I want you to understand something. Sadly for me, I am “smarter than the average bear.”

It’s unfortunate because I used it as an excuse to be lazy in my young life.

You might say I was “just smart enough to be stupid.”

The funny part is, I spent a good part of yesterday in conversations with a couple of black men around my age.

Neither was the proverbial “sharpest tool in the shed.” Both were people I’d likely trust with my life, even if they weren’t dear friends—which, to be clear, neither was. In fact, literally met them both for the first time that day.

Thing is, the two of them—who I met at different times—were decent, solid people who have been hard workers, and honorable people for the majority (if not all) of their lives.

I want to be plain. It’s important to have intelligent, wise, experienced people. Not doing so means certain kinds of work just doesn’t get done.

That considered, much of the time, knowledge is far less important than either of the other two aforementioned.

And amazingly, you can gain wisdom and experience without huge amounts of intelligence.

Both of the two I bring up were former military, one an Army veteran, the other, an “ex” Marine.

That doesn’t necessarily indicate character, but in truth, more often than not, it does.

One thing that generally happens to those who’ve been in military service, is a recognition that color means very little when you’re potentially counting on those around you to take care of you if you’re injured, drag you out of bad circumstances, cover a shift when you’re unable to do what’s expected, or so many other things.

Don’t take what I’m saying incorrectly. I’m not trying to indicate you can’t trust folks who don’t have a history of military service, just that for those who do have that under their belt, mostly, you can assume they “get it.”

And I’ll say it again, if you’re a decent human being, most will trust you with their lives, circumstances, and fortunes no matter where your family hales from.

For these two fellows, even though we were out of different services, we understood each other better than anyone outside of that experience would’ve done.

I have to imagine there are people who aren’t former military, who have similar experiences—but not the same as those who have run that gauntlet.

I’m not trying to make what I’m saying here about military tenure, though. It just happens I find a great deal of positive experience and outcomes in that realm.

I’ve shot the breeze with folks who weren’t former servicemen or servicewomen, who were “black,” or Hispanic, or whatever, who were genuinely caring and honest people.

And I want to emphasize it again; many of them were nothing like rocket scientists, or brain surgeons.

Getting back to the two I’ve already considered, we talked about our experiences—where we’d been, what we had done—and they, like me, had been through any number of interesting sometimes-harrowing experiences.

The former Marine allowed as how “the Air Force (my former service) and the Marines are basically the same.”

I didn’t call him a liar, but I did make it quite plain that was not the case.

Even though I’m not a supporter of the military these days (though I believe “states” have both reason and cause to maintain them), I well understand it takes a special kind of person to make it through even Marine basic training—forget actually serving as a Marine (particularly in combat or other wartime scenarios).

His conciliatory point was still well taken. He wanted to make it clear he approved of the other services, even if they didn’t “perform to Marine standards.”

All of this is to say, here was a man who could have “dunked on” my comparatively meager offering of “time served,” but chose to keep things on a more even footing.

The message I carry away is this. When you take people from different cultures and people groups—hyper-intelligent or not, in fact maybe more so if not—and put them together in less-than-optimal conditions, you see what can (and generally should)be.

So many, for so long, have wasted untold hours worrying about the ethnic origins of others. When the rubber hits the road, that concern is pretty inconsequential.

If you’re a white man in a burning building, I hope you’re not going to be silly enough to tell that black firefighter, he can’t drag your backside out of danger! If you’d do something like that, forgive me for saying so (or don’t); perhaps you deserve what you end up receiving if he refuses to do the job (not that he should).

I’ve written pieces in past about unintelligent folks, and I’ve always said (essentially) “the World needs them just as much as, or even more than those who have more upstairs.”

To me, the same applies to folks of varied family.

There’ll certainly be bad people among each group, but that’s not where the story ends. Not all out of any set of folks will be evil or malintentioned.

Look for—even cultivate—the good where they may be found. Know they exist. Take the time to get to know them. Work with them where possible. For in such pursuits, together, we can make the World a better place.

As usual, here’s hoping you’re doing well. If not, I pray that will come to be true in the near future.