One time in my junior English class, our teacher asked us what some of the traits our friends had to have in order to be our friends. She asked me directly what one of those traits had to be. My answer- which didn't go over very well with my peers-was that my "friends" had to have a certain level of intelligence.

One of the girls in my class-immediately after my response- said that she didn't have any criteria for her friends, that all they had to be was honest, trustworthy, have mutual interests and be a good friend, that she didn't care how intelligent her friends were.

After class, when I thought about what she had said, I found her comment to be somewhat hypocritical. OF COURSE we all have "criteria" for our friends! I mean, I may be taking it to extremes, but I'm sure one of her criteria was that her friends not be constant drunks or a drug dealers. And knowing her in the superficial way I did, I'm sure part of her "criteria" was that her friends not be lazy and be involved in school, whether in ASB or in sports or simply in school activities. I don't mean to sound snobby, but let's face it, we all have our list of qualities we look for in the people we interact with.

So this weekend I was trying to figure out exactly why I place so much importance on intelligence. Truth of the matter was that I simply could not come up with an answer. The more "answers" I came up with, the more confused I was. I was, however, able to put some thoughts together.

I think I look for a certain level of intelligence because it gives me and my friends topics to talk about that we find equally interesting and that, possible, we are equally knowledgeable in. Sure, I talk about television-though only of three shows- and sure I may know a thing or two about the life of celebrities, but at the end of the day the must fulfilling conversation I’ll have will deal with the proof of a theorem, the physics of the universe, or an interpretation of a story...and it can sometimes be difficult to find someone who is able to carry on a conversation about the above. And, of course, about the other person’s goals and ambitions are. I suppose what I’m trying to say is that, while some people may find it more interesting to talk about sports (big tennis fanatic, by the way) or the happenings around school or the latest break up, I’m more interested in stuff that other people would just find dull or unappealing (like the proof of a theorem).

Ending with this thought, maybe my peer is right, it’s mainly a matter of mutual interests...