Everyone makes mistakes.  If you were to ask the ancient Greeks, they would say this statement even applies to the gods.  While many gods made mistakes, none were as downright stupid as Cronos.

Mistake #1: Eating your children. This is crazy to begin with.  Why would someone eat their own children?  I suppose when you’re a god, or even a king for that matter, this would stop them from trying to claim your power.  However, this is a fantastic way to make enemies in people such as, I don’t know, your wife, the mother of those children you’ve been making meals out of. (Note: This was actually a precaution, Cronus was aware that one of his sons would “kill” him.  Nevertheless, he should have know that there’s no getting around the Fates.)

Mistake #2: Underestimating your wife.  Rhea, the wife of Cronus, was another Titan.  I don’t think it matters if you are a god, you do not want the wrath of a divine woman on you!

Mistake #3: Believing a rock is your son. Rhea hid her and Cronus’s son, Zeus, and fed Cronus a rock instead.  How do you mistake a rock for your son?!  You should be able to tell the difference with all five of your senses! A rock is much harder than a baby.  A rock does not smell like a baby.  A rock does not look like baby.  A rock does not cry like a baby.  And, while I cannot honestly say that I have tried either, I can’t imagine that a rock tastes like a baby!

Mistake #4: Not digesting those kids. Well, I guess you can’t really blame ole Cronus for this one.  The gods are immortal, after all.  Apparently they can’t die even if they are eaten and sitting in the belly of a Titan for years.  This just serves as a reason why Cronus should have disposed of the future Olympians in another, more effective, manner.

After this series of mistakes, Zeus returned and cut his father open, allowing his five siblings, Demeter, Hades, Poseidon, Hera, and Hestia, to escape.  Zeus proceeded to banish Cronus and usurp his throne.

If Cronus had not decided to eat his children, and instead chose to nurture them and keep good relations with them, his reign would likely have lasted much longer, probably forever, seeing that he was immortal.

Yes, I do stupid things too.  In fact, I did something pretty stupid just last week.

Our school soccer team made it into the state tournament so, as per tradition, we decided to do something crazy with our hair.  I was not one of these, however, because I was working as a checker at the municipal elections the day of our first game in the tournament and I did not want the many voters of my town to think that a fool was handling something so precious as their vote.

The next game was two days later, so I decided to do something with my hair for that.  Many of my teammates had bleached their hair and a couple were planning to dye their hair, so I joined them.  One of my teammates bleached my hair, which did not look half bad, then another dyed it for me.  There was a problem with this: my friends are not professionals and bleached and dyed my hair unevenly.  I was stuck with unevenly colored hair.

At work Saturday, I showed one of my coworkers and he said, “What did you do to your hair?”  I told him the story, “The soccer team made states so why not?” To which he responded, “I can think of several reasons.”

Once I got home, I had my brother buzz my hair off, but this only revealed the unevenness of my hair more.  Now, I wear a hat all the time to cover my spotty hair.  To make matters worse, the color I chose was “Lusty Lavender”, so my hair is blond, purple, and dark purple and not at all natural looking.  I look like a fool, but I still hold that that permanent hair dye may have been the best twelve dollars I have ever spent.

According to comedian Ron White, “You can’t fix stupid.”  This raises the question: Is there really a cure for stupidity?  For ignorance there is a cure, becoming aware and learning what you do not know.  However, stupidity is a little more complex.

Stupidity is not just a lack of knowledge, but instead it is a refusal to learn or a decision to act against common sense or what you already know.  Either of these options rule out ignorance’s cure of learning as a cure for stupidity.

One could suggest that a negative outcome to a stupid action might teach a stupid person not to act in such an idiotic fashion.  To counter that suggestion, I say that such an option would be negated by the very essence of stupidity itself.  The reason is that the first time one acts with a negative outcome is a mistake.  It is not until one repeats that action that he or she is stupid.  This leads me to believe that Albert Einstein was mistaken when he said, “insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”; perhaps he should have said stupidity.

I cannot think of another possible cure for stupidity and I have never heard another offered.  As such, Ron White may have been right.  I would take it even further and say that stupidity is an incurable disease, rampant among humanity.

Synonyms:

• absurdity
• apathy
• idiocy
• ignorance
• lunacy
• nonsense
• silliness

Out of these synonyms, the one that stands out to me the most is “ignorance”.  Although it is listed as a synonym of stupidity, they do not mean the same thing.  To be ignorant is to lack knowledge of a subject.   To be stupid is to lack the capacity to have knowledge of a subject or to think one does have knowledge of a subject when, in fact, they do not.  Another synonym that stands out to me is “apathy”.  Most people do not think of someone who does not care when they think of stupidity.  However, this synonym, “absurdity”, relates to the definition of stupidity in the 1560s: “numbness”.

Antonyms:

• intelligence
• sense

1540s, “want of intelligence,” from Latin stupiditas, from stupidus (see stupid). It also at various times meant “lack of feeling or emotion” (1560s); “stupor; numbness” (c.1600)

The word stupidity does not have very old roots.  It comes from around the year 1540, from the Latin word stupiditas meaning “want of intelligence”, which comes from stupidus meaning “stupid”.  In the 1560s, stupidity meant “lack of feeling or emotion” and in the 1600s it meant “stupor” or “numbness”.

People use the word stupidity when referring to an action or behavior that is not sensible.  Often, stupidity is used as a form of humor. Other times, examples of stupidity are used to teach lessons to others.  Observing and commenting on or mocking the stupidity of others is also a way that some people increase their self-esteem.  In all these cases, stupidity is useful, although it can be harmful.

“Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.” -George Carlin