Issue link: https://imageup.uberflip.com/i/1344388
8 SOLERA DIAMOND VALLEY | MARCH 2021 By Dick Roppé, Resident A while back, I was moving one of our bar stools and something fluttered to the floor. It turns out it was a safety-first warning label that had been attached to the bottom of the stool. In bold letters it screamed out, "DO NOT REMOVE STICKER!" I wouldn't have known the label was there had it not fallen off. I'm going to quote verbatim the label's warning: "For your safety read carefully. Failure to read and follow all instructions on this stool label may result in injuries or death." As if the preceding wasn't scary enough, what followed was even scarier. I continue… "DO NOT sit on stool placed on uneven or unstable floor or surfaces. DO NOT stand on stool or use as a step stool. DO NOT rock or tilt stool on two legs while seated. To protect children, DO NOT let children use stool without adult supervision. DO NOT seat more than one person." There are a few more warnings but I think you get the idea. Sounds stupid doesn't it? So as not to be too offensive, maybe I should use a kinder and gentler definition of stupid such as hopelessly ignorant. We've been sequestered for some time now and many Solerans have been loading up their video machines, microwaving some popcorn and maybe uncorking a chilled bottle of Chardonnay or popping the cap on an icy bottle of IPA. This is perhaps a lengthy lead-in to some of my favorite hopelessly ignorant lines from novels, movies, television shows, quotes and songs. In the 1970 novel, The Friends of Eddie Coyle, a young gunrunner named Jackie Brown says, "This life's hard, but it's harder if you're stupid." (This line has often been incorrectly attributed to John Wayne.) And, Forrest Gump memorably exclaims, "Stupid is as stupid does." In the popular 1986 film, Stand by Me, preteen characters Chris and Teddy have the following exchange: Chris: Teddy, why can't you act your age? Teddy: I am acting my age. I'm in the prime of my youth and I'll only be young once! Chris: Yeah, but you're gonna be stupid for the rest of your life. On an airing of the TV show, Blue Bloods, Donnie Wahlberg's character observes of some criminals, "These guys are so busy being stupid, it's a wonder they could find the time to be arrested." From Albert Einstein – "Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the universe." How about the Frank and Nancy duet crooning, "And then I go and spoil it all by saying something stupid like I love you." I know that on occasion, I've given my forehead a palm-smack and said to myself, "Dick, that was really hopelessly ignorant - and stupid!" IS IGNORANCE REALLY BLISS? Photos by Kim Walker The Price is Right big winner is Sandra Day, resident and Chairperson of our Welcome Committee! Ms. Anonymous SDV WILDLIFE