Stupidity; not a lack of education

Something happened.  I went to explain it to the ‘helper’ at the office.    Carl was in the hospital.   I was telling the helper about this tragedy, but she had to wash the dishes.

Now, you catch the funny little hitch here.  What I had to say was emergency.  The dishes were not.  But her brain was so limited that if she began to wash the dishes, and I arrived in a state, to explain what happened to someone we both knew, she had to finish washing the dishes.

Now it is not the fact that she does not have much education why she is this kind of limited.  This is how her mental processes work.  This is why even if she had been sent to High School, she wouldn’t have done very well.

One of the things that is a mark of intelligence, is the ability to prioritise.   To be able to know what must be managed NOW what can be shelved to Then.

In a few minutes Stephen came, whatever he had to say to the helper came second to dealing with Carl.  For Carl, what happened to Carl, why he was in the hospital was priority.   Everything else is second.

While I spoke to Stephen, the helper tried to listen to what was said, somehow appreciating that the condition of Carl was more important.

I told others about Carl as I saw them, and they all pumped me for details.   Even those who were no higher on the ‘pecking’ order than the particular helper whose name I won’t mention.

When others showed interest, this helper suddenly comprehended the import, but I was no longer in the mood to force light into her darkness.   I just made the tick not to bother to talk to her beyond ‘hello’ and ‘goodbye’ for she did not have the ability to reason.

How she developed this ‘lack’ is not the fault of a teacher, not the fault of parents, but her own misfocus.   One has to be able to hear what is said, interpret it, and then classify it.    This isn’t difficult.

For example, the alarm doesn’t go off, you awake, and have to get to work.   You start the coffee, take a fast shower, pull on the clothes that are the easiest, drink the coffee, and leave the house in under fifteen minutes.

This is because you realise that you don’t have time to do this and that and the next thing.  You can’t do anything that is not immediately connected to getting out of the house.

There are those who can not appreciate that answering emails is not urgent,  sweeping the floor is not urgent,  changing the light bulb is not urgent.

But those who can’t prioritise will be late, will have their pay docked, may gain a reprimand, and feel that it isn’t ‘fair’.

Again, I use a very simple example.

I know people who have degrees and are stupid.  They don’t appreciate the ‘Now’.

Gwen was getting a lift from Marie.  Why she decided now was the time to attack Marie for her support of a policy was rather stupid.  Marie pulled into a gas station, told Gwen that she forget she had to go in the opposite direction, let Gwen out, and drove off.

Gwen had to get a taxi.

Now why should Gwen have so stupidly imposed this topic, when Marie was doing her a favour?  That Gwen has letters behind her name does not mean anything.  She isn’t very intelligent.   Not when she had to rely on Marie.

How could she do it?  The same way the helper had to wash the dishes.   The kind of narrow vision which does not note immediates.

All one has to do is locate themselves in space, note their environment, and appreciate ‘Now’.

If the helper appreciated now she would have learned what happened to Carl.   If Gwen had recognised that at the moment she wished to run her mouth she was at Marie’s mercy, perhaps the result would have been different.