I was recently subjected to a session of intellectual-bashing to which, as you might guess, I took exception. Oddly enough, it was combined with accusations of wealthy elitism, as well. I must say, I was taken aback. And, to my embarrassment, I lost my temper and said what I was really thinking, instead of doing the meek and mild womanly thing and smoothing over the troubled waters. Self-deprecation and martyrdom are not my style.

First of all, yes, I'm intelligent. Deal with it. If you're so all God-fearing and say that our gifts come from God, then why are you on my case because I'm smart? I didn't ask to be this way, but I'm not ashamed of it, either.

I grew up poor, on a farm. We grew vegetables, kept a milk goat and chickens. We traded eggs for potatoes and corn (a barter economy). In high school I started earning a little money for tutoring elementary students and that money helped pay for our newly-installed electricity. But the fact of poverty makes me neither good, nor bad, neither to be admired nor pitied--and certainly has no bearing on whether my ideas/opinions are valid or not.

Nor does your relative wealth make your opinions more valid, nor you a good person.

Yes, I write and speak well. I took advantage of my educational opportunities. If you did not, who is to blame for that? Don't make me feel guilty for learning to read and write, because I was willing to work for what I received and learned. Again, being a hard worker has no bearing on the validity (or not) of my ideas, just as your indolence doesn't, either.

Yes, I went to a top-notch university. I got the grades in high school to be acceoted. And I worked my way through college: I held down two jobs and went to school full-time. I was too young and too naive to know that it couldn't be done, so I did it. Don't you dare throw it in my face that I'm an elitist because I went to a good school. I EARNED my education.

And maybe, just maybe, my ideas and opinions have some validity both by education and life-experience. I have supported myself and my family for nearly 50 years. I think I have earned the right to opine once in a while without being bullied into silence by accusations of elitism and intellectual snobbery.

If my ideas are good or if they are not, they stand on their own merits. To scorn my opinions because they come from me is the height of argumentum ad hominum. Look it up.

And to my friends, I say thank you for supporting me. I love you, too.