Stupid Things

what makes people do stupid things? I don't think it is the abject curiosity I once excused them for. Because they seem to have a reason beyond mere science, though most of my own faux pas are brought about by the never-ending search for more data. I do stupid things all the time but like the feline species, I tend to flub it off as a mere purposeful act. Dignified as it were.

I like to think that everyone is fallible and capable of err. The fates know how erroneous I am and the vile deeds I hatch and plans I map out. It is at these times that they step in and take control of the reigns and realign me for something better, to be something better. You would think all individuals would have that fail-safe mechanism in place but, if the rumors in Christianity are true and we are made in some god's image after all, then it would be fair to say they were an erroneous bastard too. Or, they had a great sense of humor. I'm thinking the sense of humor and errant mischief and citing the unnecessary need for testicles as my proof! But back to subject. People do stupid shit and give the most stupid reasons for it. What it comes down to is the act of a bad choice gone wrong and then the need to explain the situation to make it fit. Look at kids, they do it all the time. They know the rules and yet, they stretch the parameters and limits and if they fail you hear every excuse in the book for why your rule didn't apply at the time of said error. Children are innocent because they rationalize different than adults. But they still make conscious decisions to buck the system at every opportunity put forth in front of them.

All the greatest of nations were built upon a premise of bucking a system. Rules are fine and dandy but when we have a mass collective refusing to stray from the pack, then we cease to be free-thinking individuals and start an existence as lemming jumping of the cliff of love to impending doom. Pack mentality never won a war or made a great leader. We didn't discover the cures for diseases like the plague by following what everyone else is doing. There is a fine line between purposeful disobedience and pure ignorant intention. For example, I work in a facility that manufactures heart valves for infant transplants. Most factories have quotas and establish a system of standard operating procedures that has evolved over time as people and equipment and new ideas come in. But those new ideas don't always follow the SOPs and in the truest form of nature are defiant in their thoughtful existence. Then, suddenly, I have another idea on how to make something more effective and more productive without cutting corners or the safety to which the materials we make are used. I have a moral effort to share this knowledge, if even at a cost (meaning punishment), if it means I will make one more valve that will save one more life and make it superbly. The problem is deciphering the choice between moral disobedience and defiance for defiance's sake.

Now we have people afraid to buck the system. No great ideas have sprung from mankind in the last five decades and we are slipping into a lemming's life. Most all technology that is useful and morally contributive can be traced to its roots some fifty years ago. Television, cell phones, radios and iPods, wireless, robotics, neuroscience, transplant options, inoculations all were sparks of life in the eyes of a peoples of long ago. The greatest creation of the twenty-first century thus far is the regressing of humans and their knowledge. We don't know how to cook, read, spell, heal, teach, and so on. Most don't even know how to please themselves let alone a partner and people don't take time anymore unless it is in front of a camera for their fifteen minutes of fame doing oddball acts of rudeness to raise the bar for the next egocentric idiot looking for a fast-tracking way to financial gain. I challenge people. I challenge them to talk to one another. I do everyday and the results are amazing. People are starving for new knowledge or even refresher courses and a new perspective on old knowledge. Share and grow and harbor a fellowship of mankind. You'd be surprised what you can do if you stop on that cliff and back up and say, hey, I got an idea rather than jump!~mobe's love to her all and her all to her loves.