Obituary - Common Sense (funny, sad, true)

[mia]

Obituary - Common Sense


I am 80 years old. My parents told me about Mr. Common Sense early in my life and told me I would do well to call on him when making decisions. It seems he was always around in my early years but less and less as time passed until today I read his obituary.

Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape.

He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as knowing when to come in out of the rain, why the early bird gets the worm, life isn't always fair, and maybe it was my fault. Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don't spend more than you earn) and reliable parenting strategies (adults, not children are in charge).

His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well intentioned but overbearing regulations were set in place. Reports of a six-year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch; and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened his condition.

Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job they themselves failed to do in disciplining their unruly children. It declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer Aspirin, sun lotion or a sticky plaster to a student; but could not inform the parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion.

Common Sense lost the will to live as the Ten Commandments became contraband; churches became businesses; and criminals received better treatment than their victims. Common Sense took a beating when you couldn't defend yourself from a burglar in your own home and the burglar can sue you for assault.

Common Sense finally gave up the will to live, after a woman failed to realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She spilled a little in her lap, and was promptly awarded a huge settlement. Common Sense was preceded in death by his parents, Truth and Trust; his wife, Discretion; his daughter, Responsibility; and his son, Reason.

He is survived by three stepbrothers; I Know my Rights, Someone Else is to Blame, and I'm a Victim.

Not many attended his funeral because so few realized he was gone. If you still remember him pass this on. If not , join the majority and do nothing.

Author unknown

 

[Quath]

I always loved this quote:

Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen.
-- Albert Einstein

 

[Lewis]

Thank you mia.

 

[Vic C.]

I always loved this quote:

Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen.
-- Albert Einstein

What I have noticed is that common sense isn't that cammon at all. :o

Thanks for the post, mia.

 

[Rick W]

COMMON SENSE!
THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THEN AND NOW

Once upon a time, as children, we climbed on the 'monkeybars' and swung in worn-out tires. We had BB guns wich could put your eye out, so we were careful not to point them there. We had rockets that would fly out of sight on water pressure and slingshots that would hurl rocks a city block. We jumped on pogo sticks and tottered around on homemade stilts. Most days, we set out on our bicycles in search of adventure. Chuckin' rocks, wallowing in ditches searching for tadpoles and minnows, we played mumbledeypeg and whittled wood into whistles with scout knives.

To those raised in the climate of litigation that strangles our present society, our surviving long enough to become parents is viewed as a modern miracle. I see it differently. We survived the perils of our youth because our parents made us responsible for our own safety and held us acountable for our own mistakes. If I fell off my bike while riding backwards to impress Mary Beth Smith, I knew that I, and no one else, would be punished. If we fell out of the swing set, and many of us did, we wore a plaster cast and lost six weeks of playing steret football. If our homemade stilts collapsed while playing in our Sunday clothes, we knew our knees would heal before our priveleges would be restored. In short, we knew we would bear the consequences for our own mistakes. So we learned to look both ways before crossing a street, to tie our showstrings tightly, and to never place our Slip n' Slides within thirty feet of a tree. It was all part of growing up.

We live in a society where nothing can be our fault, where our fortunes and failures are determined by cultural forces other than personal effort. Our microwave ovens now bear stickers warning us not to place live animals in them. Our cars won't operate unless we buckke up, depress the clutch, place one foot on the brake, and turn on the radio. "The Devil made me do it," once a punchline, has become a ligitimate defense to any unlawful or immoral act. Somehow, somewhere, those lessons got lost. In the process of growing older, we forgot what we learned while growing up. It is time we reinstall values of responsibility and accountability in our children again and stop the downwared slide toward blamelessness...before they slip away.

Author Unknown

 

[Quath]

I did a quick lookup for death rate in the past and today. In the 5-14 year range (which seems to be a good childhood point range) here are the death rate (per 100,000) over time:

1950: 60.1
1959: 47.7
1979: 31.5
1990: 24.0
2003: 17.0

So would you rather live in an era where your child has about a 4 times greater chance of dieing than today? Maybe common sense would say that things have improved?

 

[mia]

Quath,
I'm not sure I understand your point...
Are you saying that because the childhood mortality rate is lower in our current society, that all "things have improved" and the world is a better place? If that is the case, then I guess there is no point at all in trying to better our society by teaching responsibility, discipline, morality, etc. ... right?

 

[Rick W]

I fail to see how better diet, advances in medicine and health care in general relates to accountabilty for one's actions. Blaming others for one's mistakes means you live longer?
:smt017

Well, maybe Edgar Snyder & Associates may say so. They can probably afford the best healthcare benefits in the country.


"He is survived by three stepbrothers; I Know my Rights, Someone Else is to Blame, and I'm a Victim."

"It is time we reinstall values of responsibility and accountability in our children again and stop the downwared slide toward blamelessness...before they slip away."

We're speaking of morality not mortality.

 

[christian_soldier]

I did a quick lookup for death rate in the past and today. In the 5-14 year range (which seems to be a good childhood point range) here are the death rate (per 100,000) over time:

1950: 60.1
1959: 47.7
1979: 31.5
1990: 24.0
2003: 17.0

So would you rather live in an era where your child has about a 4 times greater chance of dieing than today? Maybe common sense would say that things have improved?

I'd like to see a ratio of pregnancies to births spread out over the past 30 years or so. :smt017

 

[Rick W]

Stats is one thing, integrity is another.

 

[christian_soldier]

Stats is one thing, integrity is another.

Color me numb, but...huh? :smt102

 

[Featherbop]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_sense

Common Sense can be useful, but also has flaws in that it basically does often work off of prejudice.

"The existence of god is common sense." for example. It is basically taking an individuals thought processes and trying to elevate it to the status of "best" among thought processes, even though it is easily wrong. Or that is how I see it anyway.

Of course, the Common Sense in the sense(pun not intended) of thinking things through is much better.

 

[Rick W]

My favorite example of lost common sense was a warning on the back of a sunscreen used on the inside of a windshield ... "Do not operate vehicle with sunscreen in place".
Wish I'd have gotten a pic of that one.

On a more serious note a friend of mine at work related this story.

A fellow had a signs posted on his fence warning of his terrier "Beware of dog". A 15 year old boy decided to ignore the signs and got his finger nipped while poking it through the fence at the dog. The dog owner was sued.

/Attorney
Did you have signs posted on your fence warning of the dog?

/Dog owner
Of course I did. I didn't want anyone to try petting the dog. He's not too friendly with strangers.

/Attorney
So you knew you were harboring a dangerous animal!

Because of the warning signs he posted he lost the case.

I can't help but wonder what the boy's "thought processes" were or the those of the parents that elevated his irresponsiblity "to the status of "best" among thought processes" to disregard a posted warning in the first place. But maybe I'm just "working off of prejudice" toward the boy who chose to disregard the signs.

 

[Featherbop]

I can't help but wonder what the boy's "thought processes" were or the those of the parents that elevated his irresponsiblity "to the status of "best" among thought processes" to disregard a posted warning in the first place. But maybe I'm just "working off of prejudice" toward the boy who chose to disregard the signs.

Sounds like he wasn't "thinking things through."

 

[Rick W]

Sounds like he wasn't "thinking things through."

lol

Yes, that "attachment" (or disclaimer for the first part of the post) left you blameless. You're covered.

lol

 

[Quath]

Quath,
I'm not sure I understand your point...
Are you saying that because the childhood mortality rate is lower in our current society, that all "things have improved" and the world is a better place? If that is the case, then I guess there is no point at all in trying to better our society by teaching responsibility, discipline, morality, etc. ... right?

It was in response to Potluck's post about the changing of children's activities from the more dangerous to a more safety oriented and litigious society. I compared this age range because this is more the age of play where kids get hurt and may have bad accidents. Some of the numbers may have come out of improved medicine, but I am sure a lot of this is also from improved rules to keep our kids safe.

Nothing has stopped a parent from teaching morality and responsibility to a child. The main difference is that in today's culture, they have a higher chance of growing up to use that knowledge.

 

[Featherbop]

lol

Yes, that "attachment" (or disclaimer for the first part of the post) left you blameless. You're covered.

lol

It was just common sense to do that.

 

[Rick W]

I was just wondering why the reference to belief in God while God hadn't been mentioned or is that an example of "working off of prejudice."?

 

[Rick W]

It was in response to Potluck's post about the changing of children's activities from the more dangerous to a more safety oriented and litigious society. I compared this age range because this is more the age of play where kids get hurt and may have bad accidents. Some of the numbers may have come out of improved medicine, but I am sure a lot of this is also from improved rules to keep our kids safe.

Nothing has stopped a parent from teaching morality and responsibility to a child. The main difference is that in today's culture, they have a higher chance of growing up to use that knowledge.

The point:

"It is time we reinstall values of responsibility and accountability in our children again and stop the downwared slide toward blamelessness...before they slip away. "

Featherbop wants to discuss thought processes relating to believing God and Quath wants to discuss child safety and mortality.

accountibility - responsibilty - integrity
The topic is about being accountable for one's actions instead of blaming it on someone else, making excuses for one's own actions with disregard to common sense.

 

[Featherbop]

I was just wondering why the reference to belief in God while God hadn't been mentioned or is that an example of "working off of prejudice."?

Yeah, believing that the existence of god is "common sense" is working off of prejudices. So is the opposite, thinking that the non-existence of god is common sense.

This is why I don't advocate for the kind of "common sense" that is based on predjudice, but rather the kind of common sense of thinking things through.

So, for instance I think the common sense that says: "Beware of Dog + Poking finger through fence = nipped finger" is a good thing. Certainly would help a person be responsible.

The point:

"It is time we reinstall values of responsibility and accountability in our children again and stop the downwared slide toward blamelessness...before they slip away. "

So, is that to say that common sense is taking responsibility for one's actions? Seems like you are blending values.

Featherbop wants to discuss thought processes relating to believing God and Quath wants to discuss child safety and mortality.

No, I just used belief in gods as an example. I am talking about common sense as in thinking things through.

accountibility - responsibilty - integrity
The topic is about being accountable for one's actions instead of blaming it on someone else, making excuses for one's own actions with disregard to common sense.

So common sense is now equal to responsibility?

So then, if the kid in your example took responsibility for what he did that injured his finger(but still put his finger through the fence), he would have used common sense?