Banging My Head On My Desk (and other therapeutic behaviors)

Subtitle: “Stupid is as stupid does”

In going through the news feeds last night, I ran across this in a column of posts to the newspaper:

From Ranson:

My mother is recuperating from a debilitating stroke that has left her with impaired speech and a severe limp. Weeks after her return from the hospital, she received an official notice from her HOA informing her that she was forbidden from being seen outdoors within the gated community in which she resides. The notice said “the manner in which she currently walks is not pleasant” and that the purpose of the HOA was to “cast her community in the best possible light, and sad as it may be, that portrait doesn’t include stroke victims dragging their legs up and down the street.” My mother’s physical therapy regimen requires 15 minutes of walking twice a day, and she has protested the HOA’s action – as yet to no avail. Can her HOA do this? Can anyone tell me where I can go for help in this matter?  (The Journal, Martinsburg, WV, 6/26/2012)

This morning my head is still sore from banging it on my desk.  After you’ve finished banging your head, or yelling “OMG  WTF”, or a variety of other comments, the next thought had to be “What were these people thinking?”  The simple answer is that they weren’t thinking, but that doesn’t make it as an excuse.  Someone, or some group had to actually make a decision and then put it on paper.  Anyone with any common sense won’t be able to comprehend the process that went into making this particular one.

There isn’t any legislation, regulation, ordinance, bylaw or rule that can overcome absolute stupidity.  In this case the association will, of course, get the blame, but no association has this as their goal, or in their documents.  This is people being stupid and as I believe many writers and comedians have pointed out, “You can’t fix stupid”.

I thought maybe writing about it would help a little, but it hasn’t.  So I’m going to take a half-dozen aspirins, then go back to work, and hope I don’t run across another one of these for awhile – my head won’t take it.