in common. Leo told me about a friend of his, Donna Coyne, whom he thought could ‘qualify,’ he said with a smile and making the gesture of quotation marks with his forefingers, ‘qualify for this group,’ he re-emphasized as he smiled at Donna nearby.
Owen continued, “Last but not least, till now anyway, is Brett Culver. Brett was the last to join us last spring. Although he has been registered in evening courses here at the university for the past two years, it was really from patronizing one of his business establishments that I came to know him well. Then to my surprise one evening, I met him in the registrars office here at the university. Once again from observation and conversation, I realized he was another one for the group.”
“Another one of us” jested Collin.
“Yes” said Owen, “another one of us. I seem to have developed a nose for such people now,” he quirked, “guess you could call it ‘attraction to one’s own kind,’ or something like that.”
The members chuckled collectively as Owen continued, “Then it happens that just last evening I met Collin Seldon in, of all places, a psychology class. He is not only the latest addition to our numbers, but the one I’ve been able fastest to recruit - just took one class and a very brief but intensely productive meeting with him.”
“You’re getting to be very good at this Owen, you’ll straighten us all out yet,” interjected Leo. Everyone laughed - except Collin. He knew the remark was intended only as a jest, but for him it contained a grave misstatement which had cost him dearly in the past, which he could never accept, and which would always keep him wary. Attempting to straighten us out will never work for us, he thought to himself.
“Thank you, Leo,” responded Owen, and, as he looked at the unsmiling Collin, “I only hope he decides to stay with us for a while.”
“Don’t worry, Owen, I’ll be here for a while,” Collin reassured him.
“All right, that’s how we all came to be together,” intervened Dr. Eldren. “Referring again to our progress to date, last spring each of the members present did an I.Q. and other relevant testing, mainly to verify what we already thought, that here we have a group with this in common, that you are all highly intelligent, and there is little or no indication of serious personality problems. There was an interruption from Leo as he rolled his eyes, stretched the upper part of his body upward as he rocked it from side to side in a mocking gesture of mimicking a conceited one. “Yea, we do rate after all-maybe not as we should in society, maybe not always in the classroom, but at least in the results of psychological testing, we do rate,” he blurted out in a rollicking manner that brought smiles and laughter.
Collin smiled only, but a mixed feeling of amusement and satisfaction went deep, O so deep inside him, for here he was at last in the company of people with whom he had much in common. As humorous as Leo’s antics went over though, Collin couldn’t laugh aloud, for again Leo had unknowingly struck a meaningful and painful note. Collin glanced across at Albin, who also had smiled only. But he knew that young Albin’s laughter was being stifled by the weight of his burdens rather than by any mature and meaningful thoughts on the matter. I will stay on here just as long as it takes to help that young chap, thought Collin with a feeling of sympathy towards him. There are limitations to what I can do for him, but I’ll help him somehow.
Dr. Eldren took control again after laughing with the others. “I’m glad you can accept it in such a good frame of mind Leo.” He then turned to Collin, “Leo in his fun making has just stated the purpose of this group.” Then looking around at them all, “as previously indicated, all members of the group have an above average I.Q., you are all well behaved, well cultured, well groomed- smart and smart looking people. For all intents and purposes you should be doing extremely well in life, including academic life which is our most obvious concern since we are involved with the university in our respective ways. But I do not think we should try to isolate concerns pertaining to academic experiences only. I would suggest that in our discussions in this group we include any and all relevant life experiences. By exploring various aspects of your lives we will hopefully come up with some answers for you which will be helpful to you in the academic sphere as well.”
Dr. Eldren continued to the group of very attentive listeners who had much at stake in this venture, “I gather from experiences described during the group discussions held last spring that you all have something else in common besides being smart and smart looking; you all have a feeling of being discriminated against one way and another by certain people.” He turned to Collin, “Of course Collin, this being your first meeting with us, you haven’t had any input into the group, but may I ask, does the brief, and no doubt incomplete description I have just given of the problem register with you? Have you had similar experiences?”
“Yes sir” responded Collin most emphatically, “but you’ve put the problem very mildly. Discrimination is hardly the word.” Collin Seldon had never talked so freely to a psychiatrist for many years. He felt more free already with Dr. Eldren and this group, and besides, he wasn’t here for any purpose other than to help out, so if at any time he was told he was paranoid, he could simply walk out.
But there was no mention or inference of paranoia by Dr. Eldren, who continued on in a probing fashion, “In our previous discussions, incidents in the lives of each participant were told to the group; it was enough to illustrate that each of you did have common experiences. Now we need to go into the matter in more depth. If you have problems in common, there may be a common cause or causes. Over the next several weeks or months, whatever it takes, I would suggest that each of you take a turn in reviewing significant parts of your life history, but paying particular attention to experiences of discrimination or times when you were up against other people. Then maybe if as Collin suggests, the word ‘discrimination’ is not a suitable description, we may be able to find a more accurate way of describing the phenomenon. Maybe also, and this is most important of all, perhaps, we can come up with some of the causes, something perhaps that you have in common that you are going about in a wrong or ineffective or inefficient manner, that brings this attitude of others upon you.”
Collin Seldon froze in his chair at the sound of what he had just heard. Good heavens, he thought to himself, when will some people tune in to the world of reality. His thoughts raced on, What am I doing here anyway. Getting myself into trouble again, needlessly. He glanced around at the other members. They were listening intently. Obviously they hadn’t become perturbed by what they had just heard. At least there was no visible sign of disturbance. But then Collin himself was showing no outward reaction to Dr. Eldren’s statement. He had become quite adept over the years at not showing his feelings when necessary or expedient. It was one of his better means of protection. Is this how it is with the other group members, he wondered as he now surveyed them. Maybe with some of them. But the younger ones would probably not yet know the difference. He looked at Albin who appeared undisturbed about the issue. Collin felt compassion for him again. I will stay on, thought Collin again, to help Albin Anders - otherwise he’s done for - he will end up in an irreparable mess. I’ll stay on, at least until I am compelled to drop out by the circumstance I already see on the horizon. He then thought on the other side of the coin, so to speak, Dr. Eldren is a good man. He may understand, he may see things in a different light - maybe - but then again he has his professional training to stand by.
Collin was abruptly disturbed from his thoughts when Dr. Eldren addressed him by name, “Collin, as I indicated earlier, all members of the group have had psychological testing. Since you are our guest and have come to us because of our invitation rather than out of your own need, you can be exempt from any testing; or, if you think testing will be of any benefit in this instance, then we can arrange to have it done.”
Collin declined. “I’d rather not Dr. Eldren. I’ve had many tests, and from them have learned that I have a very high
