Why Common Sense is Not Common

When you were a little child and as you grew, your mother, father and others taught you things that would keep you safe and give you tools to use whenever the need arose in life experiences. You were taught how to love, because you were first loved. You were taught to walk, by someone who had learned to do it before you. Common sense was one of those tools you were given. Your father may have taught you to avoid putting your hands into the campfire (the tool), or you would get burned (an experience). It was once said in a song titled “Horse of Coarse”, playfully, that “it’s a wise child who can tell a hawk from a hand saw.” That’s because the child was taught how to tell the difference between the two.

The newest generation has caused the previous generation to shake their heads in wonder! Wonder as to whether or not that new generation would ever survive to produce the next generation. As children we were taught so many things, by people who had a deep concern for our future, which we could use as “common sense” tools to get us through life’s experiences.

Thinking before doing and thinking before speaking! I once heard that I should always “be sure my brain was engaged before putting my mouth into gear.” This is one of my favorite tools of common sense! Sometimes we have the tendency to speak before thinking, and we get ourselves into deep trouble. We end up saying things that are ultimately hurtful and downright nasty. It is common sense that tells me to wait, keep cool in a negative situation, and visualize my thoughts before speaking them to avoid a high degree of confrontation.

You were taught how to swim for your own protection and to fish so that you would always have a meal on the dinner table. You learned how to build things using the right tools, avoiding cuts and scrapes and other injury. You’d been taught how to care for things so that they would last as long as possible.

My mother and some of the neighbor ladies taught me how to preserve food and how to cook and bake and how to treat people by being courteous and respectful. I also learned how think in ways that would help me determine the difference between right and wrong, avoiding the pitfalls in life that so many others were, or are going through.

I was given tools to take with me as I grew, that allowed me to make good decisions. Some of those decisions had to be made on the spur of the moment, so the decision had to be the best that it could be for the issue at hand. Not all decisions I made were great, but they were the best for the tools I’d been given.

Deep in my heart I knew that I was not the only person on the planet and my decisions were certain to affect someone else, good or bad! Take these issues very seriously, and be concerned for society, as we have allowed many rude, obnoxious and unneeded things to enter our lives and the lives of our children; the next generation.

We are responsible, in a big way, for the direction that our children take in life because we set the initial standard; the example that our children view as they grow. Our parents were responsible and the generation before them was responsible. Were they? Are we? Are we allowing our children to make decisions that they are not soundly educated enough to make? Communication skills and respect are lacking to the degree that, as parents, we might need to re-consider our approach. Do we use the excuse that society has changed and is such an extreme influence that we lose all control of where our children are headed? Hogwash!

As I grew up in a small town in the 1960’s, I noticed rude and unguided children being parented by people who had no business even considering procreation, let alone having a large family. It amazed me that, even then, they were not teaching their kids to be more respectful and caring for others. I used to deliver the local newspaper in 1965. I had one subscriber whose children would always hide the paper I just delivered, or they would just throw it back at me. I constantly received calls from my district manager to go re-deliver the paper that I had tried to deliver several times before. They were the kids that were always in trouble at school because their parents didn’t care.

Now that you’ve determined that I am pompous and arrogant, let me tell you that I know I am not perfect, nor am I very good at keeping my own common sense a fluid constantly moving through my veins. I do to the best of my ability, however, think before taking action!

Do you teach your children the simple premise of common sense, and make sure that they understand? Do you watch them and take them into situations requiring its use? Do you guide them through an issue that absolutely needs the common sense approach? Or, do you just let them flounder, flipping around like a fish out of water?

What is your common sense driven by? Ask yourself why it’s important to you and the maturing of yourself and your children, to use common sense in all situations in life.

We cannot always be perfect, but we can strive to be the best we can be. The first thought that comes to us in a heated scenario may not always be one dripping in common sense, but we should try to take the time to think before taking action, thus, producing the best result for a given instance.

Source: Steven Coyne


People also view

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *