Human Stupidity
When I was growing up, I developed a predilection for quotes, especially those of the humourous persuasion. I especially liked Mark Twain's quotes. They're funny but with grains of truth littered throughout them. For example, he once remarked that "all you need in this life is ignorance and confidence, and then success is sure". Besides Twain, I've encountered countless other writers with witty quotes and one of them pertained to human stupidity. Essentially, it warned that we should never underestimate human stupidity because it'll always better itself. And this has been true throughout my life in the things I've witnessed people say and do.
But last night, while having dinner at home, I paid personal homage to the abovementioned quote. I was leaving the kitchen and heading back to the living room when I realised that I forgot my condiments. (How can you have pasta without some salt and pepper - it just won't do.) The problem was I was closing the door behind me when I decided to go back to the kitchen. Because of this, my left foot was perched on the ledge between the 2 areas and before I could swing back the door, it made contact with my foot and cut into my left fourth toe. What I thought was a normal bruise turned out to be much worse than expected. The force of the door slamming against my small toe almost severed it and the doctor at the hospital told me later that I had also fractured the bone. This diagnosis, however, came a good 45 minutes after I went to the hospital because the radiologist had to be called in to give me an x-ray. In any case, the nice doctor gave me a local anaesthetic (which he correctly warned would be painful) before he sewed up my toe. He gave me 4 stitches to be exact and 2 days of MC as testimonies of my stupidity.
Looking at my toe now, I'm not sure if it was pay back for all the snide remarks I've made about people saying and doing stupid things. If it was, poetic justice sure has a sense of humour because I cannot, for the life of me, imagine being hurt in a more stupid manner. So while this episode was painful, it was also deeply humbling. I guess if there's any good that comes from this accident, its that stupidity can happen to the best of us - not that I claim to be one of the best - but that it takes very little to give stupidity a leeway to tumble you into ignominy. Of course, the most common cause is complacency. Taking anything for granted, such as your sense of self-worth, your loved ones or even the fact that you should be able to get from one room to another without hurting yourself, is a sure recipe for disaster.
But last night, while having dinner at home, I paid personal homage to the abovementioned quote. I was leaving the kitchen and heading back to the living room when I realised that I forgot my condiments. (How can you have pasta without some salt and pepper - it just won't do.) The problem was I was closing the door behind me when I decided to go back to the kitchen. Because of this, my left foot was perched on the ledge between the 2 areas and before I could swing back the door, it made contact with my foot and cut into my left fourth toe. What I thought was a normal bruise turned out to be much worse than expected. The force of the door slamming against my small toe almost severed it and the doctor at the hospital told me later that I had also fractured the bone. This diagnosis, however, came a good 45 minutes after I went to the hospital because the radiologist had to be called in to give me an x-ray. In any case, the nice doctor gave me a local anaesthetic (which he correctly warned would be painful) before he sewed up my toe. He gave me 4 stitches to be exact and 2 days of MC as testimonies of my stupidity.
Looking at my toe now, I'm not sure if it was pay back for all the snide remarks I've made about people saying and doing stupid things. If it was, poetic justice sure has a sense of humour because I cannot, for the life of me, imagine being hurt in a more stupid manner. So while this episode was painful, it was also deeply humbling. I guess if there's any good that comes from this accident, its that stupidity can happen to the best of us - not that I claim to be one of the best - but that it takes very little to give stupidity a leeway to tumble you into ignominy. Of course, the most common cause is complacency. Taking anything for granted, such as your sense of self-worth, your loved ones or even the fact that you should be able to get from one room to another without hurting yourself, is a sure recipe for disaster.
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