Japan and the Last Blog

For my last blog, I've been asked to impart a token of the vast knowledge I have acquired in the last 18 years unto the world. Hopefully this will connect to Japan, and hopefully this will connect to the Academy. This post will a discuss a central lesson I've learned through high school and this year, that I wouldn't mind teaching my children once they come into the world in a few months. I mean years. There's a song that sums up what I want to say well:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVTbTOpaFb0

I would tell my son (or daughter if that mistake is made) to smile and hang out with intelligent people. The first lesson I learned from blogging about Japan, and the second from my time in the Academy.

It turns out the smiling crosses cultures. A basic course in psychology or human intuition could probably tell you as much, but it's worth noting that a smile can be disarming and signal trustworthiness, especially when it's genuine. Even though happiness (usually expressed by a smile) is an emotion that resonates worldwide, the specifics of a smile from culture to culture can vary. For instance, Americans and Japanese read smiles differently. Japanese tend to focus on the eyes while Americans look at the mouths. The clearest illustration of this fact can be seen through emitcons. In America happy is :) and sad is :( while in Japan happy is ^_^ and sad is ;_;

Intuitively, these sets of symbols all make sense as faces, but they become much more significant when you realize the eyes stay constant in the American version, while the mouth is constant in the Japanese version. Also interesting is that it's much easier to fake a smile in the mouth area than with the highly complex eye muscles. Must be why Americans get along so well; we can never tell when anyone is faking it.

The second part of the lesson is to hang out with intelligent people. My time in the Academy has taught me this lesson. Although apparently intelligent people are more likely to do drugs than their less intelligent counterparts (someone had to invent LSD), being around smart people seems like a good thing to do. Being around intelligent people challenges your mind. It makes you refine ideas and express them better. Intelligent people hold you accountable for what you have to say, but also give you the chance to learn about other perspectives, and develop intellectually. Smart people also can impart developed sets of values. None of this is to say dumb people are necessarily the opposite of any of these categories. However, the idea is to spend time with people who think and act intelligently, not cut off your entourage at an IQ of 140.

Thus my lesson to the world: smile and hang out with intelligent people. Be easy to trust and like, and surround yourself with people who challenge you and help you develop. If you follow both of these steps, it won't matter if the people around you are smarter than you are. At least they'll like you, because you'll smile a lot.