People talk about IQ, intelligence quotient. Standard human IQ is from X to Y, calculated with standard deviations and bell curves. More than 2.5SD below and you have an intellectual disability. More than 2.5SD above and you are a genius. But no matter how much we put an emphasis on such a number, I just can't see the significance. 70 is such an arbitrary number...and yet it is the difference between normal and disabled. 難道71的IQ就代表你一定不是低能meh? There are plenty of people in Medicine I know that rub others the wrong way...without even knowing so. But anyway, I digress. There is a much more important label...EQ. People throw the term around a lot, especially those who try to find something wrong with book-smart people. "Oh, he/she may be smart but no EQ at all". They do have a point though. What's the use of knowing a textbook back to front if you offend everyone you meet? They say tomorrow's leaders are those with a high EQ and not IQ (although unfortunately, it seems lately they have neither). Knowledge is still knowledge, locked in your brain, unless you have the ability to utilise it.

Which brings the very important question: How does one gain EQ? It's not something you learn in class, definitely not something you can regurgitate from a book. Some say it is something your parents can teach you, or that you can learn from your past mistakes. Personally, I feel EQ is something that, no matter how hard you try, you can't gain. It's as intrinsic to your character as your childhood. Thus, to change your EQ is to have a total change in heart, a flip of your soul coin. It involves saying the right things, and not saying the wrong ones. It involves reading body language like a historian studying hieroglyphs. It involves putting out body language like Shakespeare writes plays. It involves many many other things in our daily lives, you use it multitudes more than you use IQ. Not an easy task then.

There was a short discussion about Generation Y2 tonight. Basically those who dress and act very "yeah" before they get out of school. They change their phones every 6 months. Their hair can be any colour of the rainbow and take an hour to style every morning. For guys, their pants will be low enough to see most of their underwear. For girls, their skirts will be short to the point of being useless. Spoilt brats. I honestly don't see how society will remain functioning in the future. My feeling is that kids nowadays have a higher tendency to be arrogant and socially inept, in other words they have a low EQ. Everything is about me, me, me. Parents put no effort into developing the child's personality. Result is they hold views such as "If I am angry, I should show it" and "Everyone should please me...so I should let them know when they are succeeding". And yet, the world stands by and does nothing. If anything, it seems to be encouraging it by putting school results on the top of parents' priorities. All they care is that their children get A's and thus are guaranteed a career in the future. They don't think that their child's career may not last very long if he/she offends the wrong person. It's interesting to see how growing up has changed over the years...and in my opinion, it's taken a turn for the worse in this last decade.

But enough! Time to sleep...another day tomorrow and another bunch of kids born. Good luck to mankind. If we don't raise the average EQ level of the population soon, we might lose out to the chimpanzees.