Distilled

…..from an intellectual standpoint, she advanced further into that uncharted wilderness of ignorance than any human being ever had before her.  Not Albert Einstein, not Isaac Newton, not Stephen Hawking, not Friedrich Nietzsche, not……anyone.  She was a trailblazer nonpareil, plying invious intellectual territory no one had thought to explore previously.  And yet she received zero credit for her efforts.  Not minimal credit, mind you—NO credit.  And in the end that glaring lack of respect broke her spirit, left her depressed and embittered—a brainy Humpty Dumpty.  She had gone by herself cerebrally where no one else had thought to go before, but it meant nothing, counted for nothing, stood for nothing.  No one believed any of her discoveries anyway and, far worse, no one bothered to even take her claims seriously.  And then she thought to ask herself philosophically the most fundamental question of all:  In life, can happiness—the irrefutable currency of human sentience—be most relished as an inquisitive genius…..or as a blissful ignoramus who cares about nothing other than eating, sleeping, and fucking?…..