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I was working in a hospital on the eleventh floor. Some people came in to visit their family member. When they were getting ready to leave, they asked, "Hey are these elevators up here as slow as the ones downstairs?" My friend that they were addressing thought they were kidding. When she realized that they were not kidding, she answered their question, "The elevators up here on the eleventh floor are the same elevators that you got into on the first floor."

Again, when working at the hospital in the Intensive Care Unit, I was taking care of someone on life support. When this person was stimulated, they wouldn't do as well as when they were left alone to rest. Because of this, we had the patient very sedated. The family came in to visit the patient. I told them that we had their loved one very sedated and it would be in the patient's best interest if they did not try to wake the patient. They looked at me and said, "Oh OK..." They walked up to the bed (and I am not lying) started yelling at the patient to open his eyes. I thought that perhaps I spoke in terms that were above their head. So I simply said, "Please don't do that. We don't want him to open his eyes. We want him to stay asleep. When he wakes up, he breaths against the ventilator and that is a bad thing." Again they responded to me in a positive manner that said they understood what I was saying. As I walked out of the room, they began shouting, "Joe (not the patient's real name), open your eyes." I asked the Nurse to please explain to them that he was very sedated for a reason and they needed to stop shouting at him. She also explained to them what I had explained to them but to no avail. We actually had to ask them to leave for a little while while we had to increase his sedation to calm him down again.

These examples are just two of the many things that I have experienced with people who have a big lack of understanding. Is it mean to say they are stupid? It depends: Do they have a low IQ for real, or are they trying to be cute? Are they just doing their own thing or are they really as stupid as they appear? Is it stupidity or is it a lack of commonsense? Is it stupidity or is it the thinking that the rules don't apply to me?

There are people who are truly slow, and then there are stupid people. It is up to those who have the brains to figure out the difference...and that in itself can be scary.

Learn more about this author, Renee Dawson.
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