Some Intelligent People Can Be So Stupid

I think any and everyone, regardless of their intelligence level, can admit (or they know a witness) that they've said or done something stupid. "Stupid" is a fairly grey-area term and due to that, is pretty subjective. One person's perspective on what constitutes a stupid action may greatly differ from another's interpretation. However, there's someone close to me, whom is very book smart, whom is, in my opinion, being stupid.

First off, this person has had an issue with alcohol. He may not admit this, but it is fairly obvious to outsiders that he's an alcoholic. One drink is never enough. Drinking to the point of intoxication is essential. Without alcohol, an event lacks the fun factor. Monday through Sunday, there will be a time to drink. Even when one knows they shouldn't drink, they'll sneak alcohol to their hideaway whenever possible. This has been this individual's mentality, especially over the past year. I and others have tried talking to him about his problem, but he doesn't listen. He denies he has as problem, denies our observations and reports of his drinking excessively or drinking at all, etc. So, he's yet to reach stage 1 of getting over his problem and that's admitting he has one to begin with.

Since early August, he has battled pneumonia not once, but twice. Actually, there's now debate on whether or not the pneumonia ever fully left his system that first time. Day after day, he's fatigued like he's never been before and will complain about this. He'll take naps when he returns home from work. He'll cough uncontrollably at times. Yet, throughout these past 4-5 months, he's continued to drink alcohol excessively. He can't seem to see the connection between his long-stay with pneumonia and his alcohol binge-drinking. Just last night, he claimed to have been feeling slightly better and instead of being excited about his road to recovery and continuing to do the things he has done in the past few days, he snuck some beer down in his dungeon with him. He had at least two, probably more. So, that's it. At the first sign of an improvement, it's time to drink? The system is healing and it's time to weaken the immune system again?

Again, when he's been called out on his drinking during pneumonia, he's either denied it or said, "Well, I already had it (pneumonia), so drinking didn't have anything to do with it." He said, "My doctor told me to drink lots of liquids." He also said, "My doctor said drinking alcohol with pneumonia is fine so long as I don't binge drink." Like I said, stupid.

Articles have been sent his way pertaining to the dangers of drinking alcohol while battling pneumonia and they have seemed to have an effect on him for up to a week at the very most, but he then regresses back to his previous bad habits, like one week of not drinking much will forever alter the course of the sickness.

The thing is, I'm extremely worried about the guy, but anymore, it's hard for me to feel much sympathy for him. I've tried reaching out. Other family members have trying talking to him about matters. Yet, he still can't admit he has a problem. He was hospitalized a year or so ago, which was largely due to his drinking. Again, he made an excuse that it was because of something else.

He actually thinks he's being clever. He thinks that by hiding beer bottles and bottles of Crown Royale in his pants while going downstairs by himself will completely conceal the fact he's drinking alcohol, even when others can hear the clanging of bottles from upstairs. He'll slur his words, make inappropriate jokes, get sloppy with doing the dishes or so much as eating his dinner, yet he still feels he's being sly about his excessive drinking and that the others in the house are clueless about it.

It just amazes me, for how brilliant he is with numbers and in other areas, how stupid he can be about such simplistic concepts as letting the body heal before consuming in drugs (which includes alcohol). I've been ill with the H2N3 influenza virus over the past week and a half. Have I even contemplated about drinking alcohol in that time? No, of course not. When I'm sick at all, regardless if it's a common cold, the flu or pneumonia, I know alcohol weakens the immune system, so if I drink, my condition is apt to worsening or regressing to an earlier point before having the chance to get back to where I was prior to the drinking.

It's up to him anymore. Others have tried to reach out and get him some help, but he has refused, because he's in denial that he even has a problem. I only hope and pray he comes to this realization before it's too late, because if he continues to be stupid like this, he's not going to last much longer.