Do people still have common sense….
Be careful…use some common sense…
Standing on the edge of a cliff is something a lot of people do…falling off said cliff is also something a lot of people do. Common sense would tell you not to get this close to the edge…you may fall. But we constantly read stories of people falling off cliffs at the Grand Canyon or other national parks. Why is this? Why don’t people use their common sense? Or do the people that do this not have it? Is common sense something everyone has and some people just refuse to use it? Or is it something just a few have and most do not?
I have been contemplating this for years. I am not sure it is something that can be learned. I think you either have it or you don’t. There are people with PHD’s that have no common sense whatsoever. Or do they have it and think they should just use their brainy powers to figure things out? Back in the 50’s and 60’s did our grandparents ever just look at each other and say, “WTH?”..well I know mine didn’t cause they didn’t swear. But really is this new or has it always been like this? Do some people have it and some just do not.
Why do people fly down the highway at 90 miles an hour, with kids in the car, when the speed limit sign says 50? Why do people still talk on the phone and text while driving now when it is illegal in almost every state? Why do people drive into a lake just because their GPS told them to? Why don’t people use those “new” things on the steering wheel(at least that’s where mine are) that tell the driver in back of them they are turning? Why does everyone blame social media for hacks and stealing their info…people, listen to me….when you take a quiz and it clearly states.. we will use your info…they will use your info…that’s what “we will use your info” means!
“Common sense is not so common” ~ Voltaire 1769
All the above happens everyday.. and just a little common sense could sure help… I don’t know where you get it, not sure if you are born with it or it’s something you can learn. I believe I have it and always had it. Sometimes I haven’t used it and I can vividly recall those times…and know the consequences that came with me deciding not to. Both my grandparents had it and so did my parents. Maybe that’s the thing, if your parents didn’t have common sense then how could you? We learn from watching our parents…even before we go to school..our parents are our teachers. Or at least they should be.
Voltaire knew about common sense back in 1769 and wondered why some didn’t have it or he noticed they didn’t use it. So evidently this isn’t something new, something that just started lately. Although I do think people today are so consumed by their phones and electronic devices that they rely solely on the info they find on there to figure things out. They don’t use their brains and they don’t think. Maybe there should be a class in school today called…Common Sense 101. However, would the kids that really need it, take it? I think the most valuable thing in our body is our brain. We need to use it to think before we act, we need to evaluate everything and how this thing we are planning to do is going to affect people before we do it. Just think before you act! It’s really quite simple.
Does anyone actually think anymore? Working retail and with the public really makes me wonder? Some of the things I see make me lose all hope for civilization as we know it. I feel sad and wonder how we have gotten to this point. And then as I drive home from work something happens…a car coming off a ramp slows down and waits for everyone to go by and the driver in front of me uses his turn signal when he turned at the intersection. Small things, yes… but they renewed my faith in humanity and the world. Common Sense is alive and well!
One last note: for the love of all that’s holy.. could you please not hit “reply all” when you send an email back that has 50 or more people included in the email? Common sense, people, common sense! Thank you!
“Common sense is an instinct, and enough of it is genius.” ~ Josh Billings
Thanks for the interesting article! It amused me “Why do people do this …” I think this question can not be answered, because many people do not have common sense. Now instead of people thinks their gadgets 🙂
Sorry that this is late but we just got back from Florida. Common sense is such an interesting and necessary component to our lives. You can get a doctorate in virtually anything but common sense. That is something that you have to work on for your entire life. Once you have it, you do not want to lose it. No formal schooling is required but that does not mean that you do not have homework. Common sense is a subject that requires our constant diligence. Good blog.
Thanks Andy..right you are. Hope you had a great trip!
First: “Reply all” should be banned from email programs. Second: is it me, or don’t you hear much about the Darwin Awards anymore? For years, they were “awards” given (usually posthumously, but if you lost your ability to reproduce you could win one, too) to those with no common sense who removed themselves from the gene pool in the strangest ways. I don’t advocate trotting out lack of common sense for our entertainment but maybe it would also be cautionary. Or not.
Alana, yes..lets get them banned and bring back the awards!It is very sad that people who don’t have CS don’t really know they don’t have it..or care…
I became a master of common sense simply by doing the opposite of whatever my mother did. She had NONE! She has 6 or 8 marriages to prove it. HA! And, I will never reply all!
b
Barbara, thank you! And so glad you have IT!
My dad always said: ‘Common sense isn’t.’ We were farm kids. One had to learn to think on one’s feet to survive. I always thought that was why we . . . survived. Now I can attribute it to common sense. Something many farm and ranch kids seem to have in abundance.
Not all, though. Case in point: “Hold my beer and watch this!” sigh.
I think we had more back in the day…but these new kids coming up seem to have some too! Thanks for commenting Diane!
I don’t know how much of it is common sense and how much a lack of control. Either way, the lack of common sense can be dangerous not only to that person but to others.
I had to laugh at your last comment, having been on the receiving end of way too many “respond to all” and desperately thinking “please, just make it stop”.
You are so right Karen..thank you for your comments and glad you enjoyed that last comment on the emails…I hate that! LOL
We are increasingly distracted by our digital addictions, which only escalates this problem. Here’s to the return of common sense!
Cheers,
Margot
Margot, I sure hope so! And soon….
I HATE reply all!!!
I so very very much hate it!
i am on the bus coming home from casino and reading this and laughing out loud!! The sentence about FB and sharing info bahaha. They just don’t listen!!! Nope common sense has gone awry i fear, but i still got it, unless I’m drinking RUM 😜😜😜
Susie I knew you would like that part…and you do still have it!
I have trouble relating to people with no common sense. (Like my MIL. ZERO) And the reply to all thing is one of my pet peeves. Maybe that’s just due to a lack of actual thinking, though.
Shari, I think its lack of common sense..come on..if you see 100 names do you not know it will go to all 100 of them… just plain old common sense…