“The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I have no need of you,’ nor again the head to the feet, ‘I have no need of you.’ On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.” – I Corinthians 12:21-26:
One of my favorite books, short of the Bible, is Dale Carnegie’s “How to Win Friends & Influence People,” originally written in 1936.
Much of it revolves around diplomacy and treating others well. It’s a great book especially for people in sales or management.
The one line in the book that I remember the most is: “Every man is my superior in some way.”
The Manhattan corporate attorney probably isn’t going to know how to pull your car out of a ditch.
The welder who’s been at the same job for 40 years probably won’t know how to prepare you a nice resume.
The experience salesperson and motivational speaker probably won’t know how to program your computer.
We need all types of people with various skills, personalities, and jobs.
Before you snub your nose at someone, consider if there are areas in which that person is more knowledgeable than you in some way.
And be careful about going around generalizing whether someone is smart or dumb. We can all be very smart in some ways and very dumb in other ways.
I Corinthians 12:21-26 does not talk about intelligence, but the concept is similar. The body has many parts, and we don’t want all of our body parts to do the same thing and to serve the same function.
Spreadsheets and Overalls 