I think Gary Horton’s column on Benjamin Franklin and the rise of the village idiots (June 17) was pretty funny. Mr. Horton asked how we got from there to here, from village idiots being relative anomalies who were barely tolerated to “valued” members of a society that puts them on a pedestal. I think I have the answer to that question, and it has two components: prosperity and boredom.
We’re at our best when we’re barely surviving. As soon as we begin to thrive we get stupid. Or, to paraphrase The Most Interesting Man in the World: “Stay hungry, my friends.”
Arthur Saginian
Santa Clarita
