Remove your crayons

Today I am going to descend into the depths of self-indulgent, psuedo-philisophical mularky just because I've been wondering about about this question and my answer to it.

In an episode of the Simpsons, it is discovered that Homer is a dumb ape because he's had a crayon up his nose for a very long time. Once the crayon is removed he is suddenly intelligent. At first this is a blessing. For the first time he understands Lisa. But by the end of the episode he realizes that he'd be dumber but much happier with his crayon up his nose.

So the questions is dumb and happy or smart and miserable?

I've always loved knowledge, learning and understanding. And knowing some stuff has led me to a pretty good place in life. But I also have the miserableness of knowing my limitations or at least how little I have done to challenge some of the things I see wrong with the world. There's a yearning to do better. But smart and miserable is my answer.

Dumb and happy has charms. Who hasn't had those moments where they just want to shut down their brains and have a good time. (It's called alcohol.) But dumb and happy feel like an illusion to me. Like using up all our oil even though we know there is only a finite amount on this planet. Like ignoring the greenhouse effect and the ozone hole. We might be happy now, but we're dumb and sooner or later we're going to pay for it.

Would most people pick the first answer? I think they would, but really the cynic in me says they live by the second.