As I was saying….

I always enjoy a good intellectual chat with good friends. We would just the it flow to wherever it wishes to go. I have been given the privileged to participate in numerous chat-marathons ranging from the idiosyncracies of extended in-laws to migration patterns of illegal workers in the middle east. I always come off feeling intelligent and somewhat satisfied with the outcome and heartfelt comments. A day last week was one such day where a group of my girlfriends proceeded to have such a conversation. The anticipation of it was already brewing in my tummy. However, I knew that a particular friend of mine was not so bright in the areas of intellectualism. She and I have been buddies for a good half a decade now but all i ever remember talking to her about was about the latest movies we caught, delicious food we ate and work related-matters. She has never been able to have an opinion on the historical election of an African-American President or the surplus of nurses throughout Asia. So I found myself given the task of engaging her in the conversation. Not without much struggle mind you. I was torn between animatedly participating in the chatter and talking to her. So I proceeded to think this through throughout the week and always wonder what these people really have to say when confronted with somebody who is intellectual. I got a few opinions from some of my friends who are able to hold a fort in social settings. They themselves have encountered people who are not able to converse over deep topics. Our question is this. How, in a world where information is in abundance and KL is not exactly under a stone, could they have no clue whatsoever what to say? I have literally witnessed such people over a certain period of time ( 7 full days) talk about nothing except, what the ate for lunch/dinner, how that movie that they saw went, what happened at work and other random, seemingly meaningless chatter. My friends, the know-it-alls =)), agree that if they were thrust into such a setting, they would certainly go off the deep end. All i can say is, thank goodness for the one-child policy in China, sleeping patterns of a dugong and… oh yeah, the addition of lemon zest into chocolate muffins… =)))