Street Smart

Smartness are levelled in different views from how smart you look to how smart can you think. Xinmo always thought she was a bit better than some of her friends so being Smart or clever questions were never asked. In school, all that mattered were how intelligent and how much you can understand the syllabus.

She met an old man while on her walk back from the shop. The old man was carrying something so she helped him carry half of it since she wasn’t carrying much. Like any elder, he asked the common questions: what is your name? Who are your parents? And all the same old same old.

They had a nice conversation and so the man said, “You seem like a smart girl. Do you know what is street smart?” Xinmo was blank. She didn’t know what to say and thought, “Isn’t Street smart the same as smart?”

Xinmo wasn’t one to back out without trying. During one of her interviews, she bluffed the answer even though she didn’t have the slightest idea of what it was.Tada! She hit the bull’s eye and she was selected for whatever she was interviewed for.

She was the “Bluffing Queen” so she replied to the old man saying, “Being smart and able to do things how we want” ‘maybe’ thought Xinmo.

The old man said, “Indeed! If you are thrown out in the streets, how you can survive is street smartness.”In the world, not only is the knowledge gained through books is important but also how to use those knowledge into wisdom and survive the world.