The Stupidity of Others

May 19th, 2006

The Internet is a great place to propagate funny stories. The Darwin Awards is a website that collects stories that are entertaining, but in a tragic way.

“We salute the improvement of the human genome by honoring those who remove themselves from it. Of necessity, this honor is generally bestowed posthumously.”

I think I remember some of the earliest stories that were distributed by email. Probably the most famous story being the guy who mounted a JATO rocket engine to his car and launched himself into the side of a mountain.

If you enjoy those police chase shows, you will probably enjoy reading about the things that people do that unexpectedly end their lives.

Being a male, I can recall the many foolish things that I had done as a teenager:

In eighth grade, my friends and I were at “the lake” engaging in a basic activity of lighting a fire in a large drainage pipe. We were using dried reeds that we lit with a BIC lighter. As we took turns feeding the fire with handfuls of reeds, someone (probably me) tossed the seemingly empty lighter into the pipe. Our unbeknownst game of Russian Roulette ended when, on one of my turns, a giant fire ball shot out of the pipe into my face. I saw the flame and ducked. I opened my eyes to find the faces of my friends first with concern and then with laughter. I was not burned, but my hair and eyebrows were quite singed! The smell was terrible. I could not see what a mess I was, and as we walked back home, I can remember my friends reassuring me that I looked fine – as they continued to giggle. The worst injury I received was what looked like a terrible haircut.

I wasn’t trying to perform these stunts, but being young and male provides a lack of fear or forethought. Not until college did I purposely attempt stunts, with limited success such as: being tumble dried in a dorm clothes dryer; rolling down the stairs in a garbage can; and the incredibly stupid climbing from one balcony to another.

If we live to reflect upon our past mistakes, we should learn from them, and even teach others. Now, as the father of two young boys, I cringe as I read these stories knowing that half of their genetic code and all of their gender will be working against them. I hope the Darwin Awards will be around in years to come so that when they become teenagers I can force them to read about what NOT to do. Knowing my luck it will just give them ideas.

The Darwin Awards can be found here.

Entry Filed under: Parenting, General

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