Remember middle school math and the Lowest Common Denominator? You couldn’t add or subtract a fraction without it. It may have tormented you, but it certainly had its place and was useful in its own setting.

Out in the world though, the religion of the Lowest Common Denominator bothers me to no end. It first started in high school, where I think it was my chemistry teacher who introduced me to the real-life concept: “The Regents exam is a lowest-common-denominator test. You’ve learned far more than you’ll need to know, and you will all do very well, so don’t worry about it.” Why base the assessment of my “achievement” on only the smallest part of what I’ve learned?

In college, the concept popped up in “group projects.” As Leah said last weekend, one of the two ways a group project works itself out is when “everyone participates, and the group becomes as weak as its weakest link.” Unless the top one or two students in the group steps up and does all of the work, everyone must diminish himself to the level of the lowest student and work from there.

And it just keeps going. Last winter, Jeremy, trying as always to help me be better at people, and with the best of intentions, informed me that I would really seem a lot friendlier if I would stop using unusual words (such as, for example, “diminish” and “evince”). He then went on to say that if I just use an easier word that means approximately the same thing, people would like me more, and possibly understand me better. Apparently, purposely saying what I don’t mean would not make me a liar, it would make me nice. (!)

I rounded on him so fast and hard that his head was spinning for hours. In fact, he now denies ever saying such things!

Why does “fitting in” require that everyone diminish herself to the lowest possible level? In worldly practice, LCD is omnipresent and omnipotent. . . and therefore incomplete. By acting on LCD thinking, we sacrifice knowledge and understanding in order to fit in, or seem friendly, or keep from injuring another’s inflated sense of importance. Yet other than some fundamental DNA programming, which is really only mud and clay, the single shared element of every human on the face of the earth is God. Since the true lowest common denominator is omnipresent, omnipotent, and omniscient, we must not try to find our link to others by lowering ourselves to them. We should be lifting each other up.

Of course this won’t happen, but it really should.

[For the record, I have not changed my speaking patterns. Those who don't know the meaning of some of my words will derive it from context, thus sharpening their language skills. Since we think and communicate primarily in words, this raises their level of consciousness and helps them deepen as people. While it would be nice, my goals in life do not include being liked or understood, and I have no intention of bowing to any god but God.]