Tag: behavior

The sense of humor reveals one’s life experience. And few personality traits are as revealing as this one. Someone accustomed to the factory floor, for example, does not need much to shock someone else, raised in the mold of the European elite. And the latter, if he makes a joke, will either not be understood by the former, or it will seem to him ridiculously childish. So it goes. But it is difficult, for someone who understands both, to classify one’s humor as better than the other’s. What is not difficult is to perceive, with just a little conversation, the life experiences that have shaped the person with whom one is speaking.

The difference between a young intellectual and a mature intellectual is this: the latter has the courage to take responsibility for what he says. It may seem like a small thing, but it is not. Young people are often logical and rebellious; they are capable of fierce and perceptive criticism; but more often than not, they lack the courage to voice it openly or to attach their full name to it. In short: they lack the courage to stand by them, much less to suffer the consequences of their provocation. Time passes, however. And the restraint it usually brings can be misleading in this regard: the mature intellectual, though he may seem more measured, is not afraid to see things through to the end.

Life becomes much more enjoyable and interesting when you learn to collect, develop, and preserve a collection of things that money cannot buy. It does not need to be very large; it just needs to be well-maintained and regularly tended to, and you will have a new, inspiring reason to wake up.

There are those who, unfortunately, reach adulthood without having experienced loyalty—which, if we think about it, is not all that common. However, those who have been fortunate enough to find themselves in the right circumstances to assimilate it must take a step further. No matter how much they value it, no matter how many important lessons they have learned through it, they must realize its inadequacy for sustaining a relationship. Excellent, yes; but no more than a prerequisite. It is, then, to return to St. Thomas Aquinas, strengthened by experience to give him greater reason.