Lately, I've been pondering the problems of stupidity. Not my own stupidity, other peoples.

Sure, I've exercised and demonstrated plenty of my own stupidity throughout my life. However, that is not the issue that troubles me.

Instead of trying to constantly improve and expand their skills and knowledge, many people give up or coast through life.

The problem with this approach is that it doesn't guarantee that your problems in life will remain simple and uncomplicated.

I've watched people both create their own problems or get hit with problems that are so far beyond their personal knowledge and skills that they simply cannot address them in any reasonable manner.

I know this largely because I do have the knowledge and skills to address them. I offer assistance, but am usually shrugged off. Sometimes people are too stupid to realize how stupid they really are. They need my help, they just don't know it. Perhaps they are too proud to admit it.

So, I watch disaster develop and it gets exacerbated with even more stupidity. There is a great deal of genuine human suffering here. It's demoralizing.

For example, sometime back we had some friends from church invite us over for dinner. It became clear from what they said and did that they were headed for financial disaster. My hubby and I both knew personal bankruptcy was inevitable. It finally happened.

Witnessing all this suffering has no rewards. There is no satisfaction in being right. I'd prefer to be wrong.

Elder M. Russell Ballard told the youth of the Church to learn how to think straight. He advised:


We can learn to be careful, fact-oriented thinkers, or we can become sloppy, inconclusive thinkers.
To be good at anything at all requires a lot of practice and skill in making decisions. The more one is exposed to the necessity of making decisions, the better one’s decision-making process becomes.
He suggests that straight thinkers do not make serious mistakes in life. He recommends a process we can adopt to help us be straight thinkers. Make certain you review it and adopt it.

If I drank alcohol, which I don't, I'd give you a toast. So, let's all raise our milk glasses and proclaim, "May your problems be commensurate with your skills to solve them!"

You Can Conquer Giant Problems. “With God all things are possible.” (Matthew 19:26.) Nov. 2011, accessed May 30, 2016 from the LDS Media Library.

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