During our Socratic Seminar, we did not get a chance to look at a few of the questions that I wanted to. One of them was how in the Power Of One, Peekay claims at Hoppie's fight that he "learned the most important rule in winning-- keep thinking." Peekay demonstrates that he has already learned this in his time at boarding school. Peekay knew at the boarding school how smart he was. He also quickly learned that that intelligence was going to get him in a lot of trouble if those around him saw it. So Peekay learned to hide how smart he was and use it to his advantage. He called this act his "camouflage," and he learned to use it well. This also goes along with Hoppie's saying "First with the head, then with the heart." That is a perfect way to sum up what Peekay had been doing in boarding school, and continues to live by for the rest of his life.
This is also something I have seen in my friends lives. One of my friends is very smart, but their friends are not. When they first became friends it was really hard for them to mesh together well because his friends could never understand his advanced vocabulary. This caused him to tone down his smarts when with them so he didn't make them feel stupid. He had to use his brain to hide his brain. So in the end he is always thinking.
I believe that It is very important to be able to think in every situation. You should be able to understand whats going on even if those around you do not. But I don't think you should have to hide who you are. If you are smart then you should hang out with people who are smart as well and not limit yourself for comfort. always accept the challenge of keeping up with your intelligent friends with open arms so that you can "keep thinking."
