dumb1

In kindergarten, I got in trouble for “doodling” on my dittos (who else calls them that these days?) when the teacher was reading the instructions to the class.  Except I wasn’t doodling.  I was starting the exercise because I had read and understood the instructions on my own.  The teacher realized this after a bit and recommended me for the gifted program.  Except they didn’t have a class for kindergarteners, so I was placed in the class with the first graders.  I felt smart.

Ever since, I have HATED feeling dumb.  But sometimes, you can’t help feeling dumb.  Sometimes even the smartest people do things that are DUMB.  I have definitely had my moments.  Let’s go over a few, shall we?

  • In either 5th or 6th grade, I misspelled the word “ugh” in the spelling bee.  I was so confident.  I stood up, and said, “Ugh.  U-G.  Ugh.”  And I smiled.  And then I heard, “I’m sorry, that’s incorrect, please take your seat at your desk.”  I was mortified.  I missed a three letter word.  I felt DUMB.
  • In junior high, we had a geography bee.  My first question was, “What state is surrounded by water on three sides?”  Again, with the confidence.  I smugly answered “Hawaii” and then immediately was struck by my own stupidity and put my face in my hands.  FLORIDA, you idiot, FLORIDA.  You know, the state I lived in!  My geography teacher even felt sorry for me, but I was still out of the competition.  Again, I felt DUMB.
  • I was hanging out with a small group of people in high school and I thought it would be funny to pretend to push the most popular guy into the pool.  Only thing is, I didn’t just pretend to push him in, I did it.  Oops.  And he was wearing expensive shoes and had his very expensive pager on him.  I thought I was being funny, but I ended up looking DUMB.  And I also stopped hanging out with that group shortly thereafter.  I just couldn’t handle the DUMB feeling.

Those are just three examples that come to mind right now, but I’ve felt DUMB many times before.  And I can’t stand it.  To me, feeling dumb is worse than showing up to a public event in just my underwear.  Seriously.  I’m not even exaggerating.  SuperDad likes to say that I always have to be right, but he acknowledges that I usually AM right, because I don’t speak on a subject unless I’m very certain what I’m saying is correct.  I don’t like to be wrong because it makes me feel DUMB.

It’s not that I think I’m incredibly intelligent.  I just like knowing the facts.  I like knowing the truth.  And the truth is, sometimes I am just dumb.  And that’s a tough pill to swallow.  So, what had made YOU feel dumb?