Blog: Perception

Being stupid is not necessarily, “stupid is what stupid does” as Forrest's momma said in the movie Forrest Gump.

Sometimes being stupid does not mean a person is not smart because there are varying degrees of how a person is perceived as being stupid.

Sometimes stupid is a moniker, an identification put on a person by others, a name being called by smart people with little intelligence, or common sense for that matter.

A person’s exposure to communication, whether reading, writing, television, movies and interaction with others all affect the level of skill a person can have.  Those exposures can also affect a persons level of intelligence, although I suspect intelligence is something that a person is born with rather than something gained by exposure to knowledge.    

An ability to memorize, concentrate, react to situations and absorb data from all levels contribute to how a person thinks, how they formulate their thoughts, how and what they remember or memorize. 

All those things are essentially the exposure to life and contribute to how a person thinks and the level of smartness they may have.

Every person has the ability to memorize, with different levels of success. People develop from all the different exposures in life to think for themselves and react, but it’s the level of the various exposures that will affect a person’s ability to fit into a situation and articulate verbally their thoughts.

Education is a tool - the ability if not to memorize but to know where and how to find information is a very short answer to what education can do. A person's education also gives the freedom to others to presume because a person has with a certain level of education, a presumption they must be smart, intelligent and not stupid.     

Education is most important for that reason if no other, and but it also gives people a sense of how to be successful because know they know how to find the answers. Certainly, my explanation of what education can do is extremely simplistic.

Perception by others, however, can be far more important than facts, so if someone says you are stupid as opposed to intelligent, smart, knowledgeable then it doesn’t matter what the truth is.

What is important if a negative mindset is in place about you is that, if you allow it, that mindset can be in control of your destiny because you are thought of as stupid.

Parenting in the early years more than any other influences how a person feels about themselves, negative or positive. The parent that reacts to their child by using inappropriate language, by calling them childish names, saying they are stupid puts their child at a huge disadvantage when they go out into the world to make their mark. 

Conversely, the parent that encourages, influences positively, has kind but realistic words for their child does a great service to the child when they go out into the world and make their mark. 

Body language is another huge influence on a child in a negative or a positive way. A parent's shrugging of the shoulders indicates he or she is unhappy with the action of a child, is negative. Better acknowledging the positive, using positive gestures and being genuine with the "atta boy" or "atta girl" comment.

So, stupid is what stupid does, like in Forrest Gump, does not mean a person is stupid, it just means that we all must be on guard to how people think about us, what they say about us and how we react to what is said. 

We than must be aware of those negative things, aggressively challenge the misperceptions; challenge the half truths, the untruths, the distortions and starting from square one, always think and express positive thoughts. We sometimes can not control what others say or think, we can only control what we say and think.

Thinking positive things, verbalizing positive things, living positive can then be how each of us can stay in control. I am in control, I may be stupid but I am not stupid. My level of intelligence is where it is, and if I am not as smart as others would think, I have the control to respond in a positive way and I have. It, I believe is solid common sense.

Stupid is what stupid does yes but positive is what positive does.