Monday column: We need to be kind to ‘idiots’

If you are looking for a cure for idiots then you will be waiting for quite a long time because the medical world see them as a nuisance only.
I have come to a conclusion that we must be kind to idiots. They do not really mean to upset any one. They just voice their opinions though not in a coherent way like we expect. They deserve to have their opinions just like the rest of us.

But how do you define a person who you think is an idiot? Do these people have no intellect?  I don’t think so. It all depends who we define a person as an idiot. If they do not conform to our way of thinking or speak in the same wavelength we are used to, then we need to adjust with their conversation when we are talking to them. To dismiss them as idiots is not a kind way to relate with them.

We are not all born equal. It is not what we see with our eyes is important but we see in the eyes of our minds. Yes, there is a cure for people we see as “idiots” but the medicine is not available for prescription. They can be helped by people around them when they remove conditions while they are with them. One word comes to mind about it. Tolerance.

Therefore, not everyone who talks ‘randomly’ is an idiot.  Albert Einstein, the academic ‘genius’ used to talk ‘loosely’ when he was in social circles. It is an established fact that the famous scientist ‘never knew when to stop’ once he started going when he was with friends. As a matter of fact, not all his words were ‘coherent.’ But no one called him an idiot when he was alive and certainly not after his death.

So sometimes, there is a thin line that divides an ‘idiot’ and a ‘genius.’ It all depends in the perception of listeners when they talk. And of course the amount of tolerance we reserve for them. People like Einstein can command a lot of tolerance just because of their professional status. But your next door neighbor, unfortunately, who just had a rough day at work, cannot be forgiven when they start talking what we think as ‘nonsense.’

When you come to think of it, ‘loose talk’ as we see it, comes out of the mouths of people who have been treated unfairly or let down by people around them. If we think they should be a cure for whom we see as an idiot, then the remedy is simple. They just need a listening ear.

In other words, they need people to be there for them when they hit the hard times.

But then, as proven by the likes of Einstein, we all fall into the trap of an idiotic path sometimes. No one is really spared from it. We are all idiots at one time or another when the stress level hits the roof of our heads.  

So next time when you sit with someone talking out of turn, then you must understand that the person just need a listening ear to get back on the right track. That is the cure for people we wrongly dismissed as ‘idiots’.