I AM SURROUNDED by ignorant people who are smarter than me.  They have the ability to do things I can't.  They can build things; repair things; make things work.  I can do none of that.
In a very practical, mechanical sense, I am an idiot.  If a task requires more than just throwing a switch, I have to summon help.  Once I had to call a repairman from a nearby city to fix my stove.  It had stopped working.  He fiddled around and eventually announced that he could find no problem.  Then he noticed this little red button in the center of the nearest electrical outlet.  He reached over and pushed it and the stove came to life.  For this semi-miracle, he charged me $100.
In the boondocks where I live, people are extremely self-reliant.  As an ex-city boy, I have entered into a different world, the proverbial stranger in a strange land.  I may have a college education and an advanced degree, but these people can do things.  I may read lots of books, but these guys don't need books.  They have tools, and they know how to use them.
You could say that I am a white collar professional living in a blue collar world.  I moved here on purpose back in 2004.  I wanted to experience a more down-to-earth life style.  My wish was to simplify and put behind me the complications and fears and antagonisms of the city.  I have learned a lot, not about how-to, but about the people who know how-to.  They are good people.  They know how to tough it out.  They not only make do, they prefer to make do.
I may never leave this place.  Where once I was surrounded by concrete and sirens, now I enjoy old-fashioned atmosphere and old-fashioned people.  I have to drive quite a ways to get to an Interstate highway.  We felt, when we moved here, as if we were taking a time machine back to the blessed Fifties.
Of course, I still can't fix things but, in truth, I no longer require much in the way of things.  I guess that's a kind of self-sufficiency.