Smart as a Whip

By Jim Hagarty
Official Smartypants

I posted this a while ago on Facebook:

“I have tried many times to outsmart myself but I am so smart, I am unable to do it.”

As far as I know, this quote is original to me and I have used it many times over the years.

But I got thinking about that today. If I was unable to outsmart myself, then really, how smart could I be to not have enough smarts to outsmart myself?

And if I was able to outsmart myself, was it because I was not smart enough to not be outsmarted by a person as smart as I?

Perhaps someone smarter than me, assuming there is someone like that roaming the world, can figure this out. My brain is smarting from considering the question in all its ramifications.

I know you’re busy, but I would appreciate an answer right smartly.

Author: Jim Hagarty

I am a 72-year-old retired journalist, busy recovering from a lifelong career as an unretired journalist. This year marks a half century of my scratching out little fables about life. My interests include genealogy, humour and music. I live in a little blue shack in Canada and spend most of my time trying to stay out of trouble. I am not that good at it. I also spent years teaching journalism. Poor state of journalism today: My fault. I have a family I don't deserve, a dog that adores me, and two cars the junk yard refuses to accept. My prized possessions include my old guitar and a razor my Dad gave me when I was 14 and which I still use when I bother to shave. Oh, and my great-great-grandfather's blackthorn stick he brought from Ireland in the 1850s. I have only one opinion but it is a good one: People take too many showers.