“My child is an honor student at (fill in the elementary, middle school, high school name here).”
I am sure that you have seen one of those bumper stickers if you live in the USA (certain inner-urban areas possibly excepted due to traffic restrictions.) No surprise. And perfectly understandable that proud parents want to proclaim their children’s achievements to the world. I did the same for my kids.
(Except that I had a no-bumper-sticker rule. No bumper stickers of any stripe–clever, cute, proud… whatever. There was a principle/philosophy involved here. And I broke that rule the day my older son became an Eagle Scout. I put his “Ask me about my Eagle Scout” bumper sticker on my car. And I did the same (other side of the bumper) when my younger son did the same. Those are no small accomplishments and similar accomplishments *ought* to be advertised to the world.)
Perhaps you’ve seen the parents who are desperately looking for something to be proud of in their kid. So they sport a bumper sticker that says “My kid can beat up your honor student.” Talk about striking a blow for education. 
And today, in the company parking lot, I saw an SUV with this bumper sticker: “Your kid is an honor student, mine is a Marine!” And it has the US Marines emblem on it. I suspect it was purchased in the BX. Does it have the US Marine Corps endorsement? Did the PR arm of the Marines approve this?
I am not sure they would be in full agreement of the implication… there are honor students… and there are Marines. I know in the ’90s the Marine Corps was working hard to improve their image. They wanted to be seen as both tough AND smart. I don’t think this particular phrase reinforces that message. (But, maybe, with the troop levels as they are, and the difficulties recruiting for a shooting war, just maybe, that implication is an accurate representation. I don’t know.)
So, is it better to be tough or to be smart? (For that is what this bumper sticker implies… that tougher is better than smarter.) In specific, it depends on the situation. Some things just plain require toughness and strength.
But in general, as an HSP, I will say that I think that smarter is better than tougher. In lots of situations, smarter helps you avoid the need for tougher. And levers can allow you to multiply small amounts of strength (or force) to accomplish what would otherwise take massive amounts of strength. And I think it is smart to use levers when you can.
In fact, smartness is what has brought us a higher standard of living – and greater civilization. It is what has allowed us to not have to spend every minute of our day trying to catch enough food to keep us alive another day. And while we often complain about the stresses that our civilized life brings us, very few people are really willing to trade it for a tougher living.
But maybe we can apply our smartness to civilization and live smarter, not harder. (I wonder if I could trademark that phrase?)
What do you think? Use the comments and let’s have a dialog about this.
