Smart People and Polar Bears

I've been keeping up with the tragic news of the professor from Alabama who shot up her colleagues, apparently after being denied tenure.  A few days ago I was part of conversation with colleagues regarding the exploits of profs at some of the most prestigious schools in the country.  While they may have been geniuses in their fields... such discernment obviously did not translate into other areas of life.  How can people so smart be so incredibly stupid?  I know, I know - the answer is sin, total depravity, blah blah blah...  Such answers are not very satisfying.

I've been teaching at the college level now for almost 4 years.  I'm in the midst of trying to get into a PhD program (emphasis on the "trying" part).  I recently read the blog entry of a woman who has seemingly been rejected by a program she thought she had a good chance of getting into.  Her words reminded me of the politics involved with the process - not that the many other aspects of life are any less political.  The process of applying to 7 different programs, visiting 4, being silently rejected by 1, left waiting by the other 6 - has been eye opening.  Don't get me wrong... I met with many wonderful scholars of high integrity with whom I would love to study.  I also have, at this point anyway, a positive feeling about beginning a PhD program - even after listening to some well intended people tell me about the dark night of the soul that is the dissertation.  That being said I can't help but wonder about a simpler life.  By simple I don't mean a life without problems... a friend recently reminded me that to switch professions is to trade one set of problems for another.  What I mean by "simpler" is to take life as it is given... to not have to dissect every word, every action - to live a healthier distance from the abyss of cynicism.

I don't pretend to understand why smart people do very stupid things.  Yes... I'm sure depravity has something to do with it.  This afternoon I watched my kids play in a snow cave that I dug out for them -  they were pretending to be polar bears trekking across the arctic snow.  I tried to remember what it was like to lose oneself in play... to act like a polar bear without having to philosophically justify the ontological possibility of actually being a polar bear.  Maybe I'll spend the night in the snow cave and give it a try.