Can you buy Common Sense in one of our chain stores linked across our USA? Is Common Sense on the shelf next to the jar of 'elbow grease'? Maybe one could take an Adult Education course at your local high school Common Sense for Beginners - Ages 14 and Up with a Certificate of Completion offered. Once you have obtained Good Common Sense, is it possible to keep it? Can someone rob it from you? Does it hold any real value in today's world or is it considered only a passing 'old-fashioned' abstraction?
Worst case scenario - what is common sense anyway?
Common sense is a very hard commodity to come by; the supply seems limited and it is becoming increasingly rare. Impossible to buy, you must build it up for yourself by mixing equal amounts of experience with rational and careful thought.
It is possible to keep it once obtained, however, with a little care. Just stay out of the HubPages political and religious forums. Those two act as a giant vacuum and will remove any common sense that they find. You can almost see it, flowing down and disappearing into the keyboard as fingers angrily slam keys at top speed, never using that valuable attribute.
I think the best question is "What is common sense"? Start with a definition. I think the definition stage would be where we would have to stop.
Good sense and sound judgment in practical matters and the application thereof.
Good, sound & judgment are not absolute terms. Things exist in perception only and we all have different perception within one culture, let's say.
If I say that being honest makes sense in the long run, because I tend to forget when I lied to whom and what did I say...
Other people would say that honesty is not such a virtue and it makes sense to say what others want to hear. To get ahead of others, honesty should be used sparingly.
Both is common sense.
To flaunt your body, no, sorry, to expose your body during the hot summer - makes sense. Well, it is hot to begin with to be fully dressed and why miss such an opportunity to advertise your assets!
To fundamentalists - to cover their women head to toe is common sense. If women won't conform - the consequences...
The list is endless.
In ancient times people bathed and swam naked. It was common sense. There was nothing wrong with that. I think we are coming back to it - however, some people still swim fully dressed - I guess it is their common sense.
Having swim pants for men kneelength - common sense? Does it not make you feel colder when the weather in not so benign? I certainly prefer less wet fabric on me, only I go for one piece swimsuit because it is more flattering. Common sense.
How many women wear what is flattering? A lot wear what is fashionable yet makes them look worse than they could.
I can go on and on. But that would be unreasonable for me. I might misjudge - maybe I have still failed to make my point.
We were taught what good and bad or unreasonable was. At some point, the Earth was flat and the Sun revolved around it. And it was reasonable to agree and to be burned at the stake.
I wonder was it reasonable to burn witches? No, really?
Common sense if what you learn from experience but never write down:-)
I believe you can purchase it from the Store of Knowledge and life lessons.
Or craft your own in the school of hard knocks.
I had a philosophy professor who said, "Common sense isn't." Brilliant and simple. If common sense was common would we yearn so for its presence.
Common Sense
In Memorium
Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend by the name of Common Sense.
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 valued lessons such as knowing when to come in out of the rain, why the early bird gets the worm and that life isn't always fair.
Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don't spend more than you earn) and reliable parenting strategies (adults, not kids, are in charge). His health began to rapidly deteriorate 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. It declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer aspirin to a student but could not inform the parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion.
Finally, 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 finally gave up the ghost after a woman failed to realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot, spilled a bit in her lap, and was 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 two stepbrothers; My Rights and Ima Whiner. Not many attended his funeral because so few realized he was gone.
Special thanks to Lynda Penning Gatelaro for this submission.
August 2003
This discussion has inspired the idea for a Hub for me (so thanks). I started the Hub, and it should be up within a day or two (I think). In the meantime, and for the record, I'm going to stay away from this thread so that I won't risk having the Hub (and what's in it) "colored" by anything anyone else offers on here. I've already included a reference to this thread (and Deb, I hope to you don't mind, I've mentioned your name and will link to your profile) in the already-started Hub. (The forums so often offer far better subjects to write Hubs about than the "Answers" section does.)
I'd thought of doing a "You Can't Fix Stupid" hub, but that phrase is pretty much locked up.
I can think of some politicians in dire need of it, but I don't like to get into politics on the web.
We can conclude then that common sense is not a commonly found quality. It could even say common sense is uncommon. In which case common sense rather than being common is a rarely demonstrated skill.
We have a hubber here named logic,commonsense.
Perhaps he would be willing to share some of himself.
Hey Mighty Mom,
Logic,commonsense is always willing to share himself with the ladies.
Mighty Mom: Very curious. Him or Her. Logical as Mr. Spock.
Hoping that the concept of Common Sense does not die.
Common sense is a state of mind and to the degree I can share it I would gladly do so. It is based on logic, reality, and a willingness to listen and learn.
It comes easier to some than others. If you see yourself as an atom, rather than the sun, common sense is easier to perceive and embrace.
Kallini2010: Thanks for your thoughts. There are so many situations in life that touch on the values of Common Sense, you mentioned several very well put. Young people today - I wonder if they even know what Common Sense is unless parents or other older people in their life told them about it or they read about it somewhere.
EAGLEKIWI: Great words from Lynda Penning Gatelaro - thanks for sharing. She gave common sense a life of its' own - very cool.
paradigmsearch: Ron White is right. When a female driver was wearing
flip flops and talking on her cell phone and smoking a cigarette - her driving foot flip flop got caught underneath the brake pedal and her car plowed into a group a women on the sidewalk and a couple died - that's no common sense at all - stupid!
Here is a little story showing common sense. Some common sense is learned and some is experienced. I beleive that it enters the rote but a person needs to have a conviction to solidify it as common sense. A person will have common sense in some areas and not others. As others have said, common sense is often not common. Sorry about the contrived nature of the story but it should demonstrate how I see common sense.
Fred Morgan had a sneer a mile wide.
He ate his eggs half raw.
You see I never liked eggs that ran.
Fred had a couple of decades on me. One would think in that time he would get a grasp on what is really going on. We just had one of infamous arguments about politics.
You know, the world had passed him by and left him behind in the times. He doesn't listen to what I say.
I am a machinist by trade and I will tell you that I am an expert in my craft. Fred is a retired accountant and I'll bet he was a lousy one. He just irratates me and he is just angry and mean and argues just for the sake of arguing.
After turning a peice of metal, I was holding a file to smooth out the burs and all of the sudden the the metal that I was turning caught the file and pushed it deep into my wrist. I was lazily holding the file in the palm of my hand. I could feel the sharp pain and when I looked at the blood I felt dizzy and dropped to the floor. I put my had over to grab the file and pull it from my wrist and all the sudden there was a foot on my hand and I look up and it is Fred.
I said with amazement, "Fred, What are you doing?"
He replied, "Stopping you from pulling that file from your wrist"
I wonder what the heck is his problem. I go to pull the file from my wrist again and he bends over and firmly grabs my hand and says. "If you pull the file from your wrist you will bleed to death." He said it with so much conviction that I acquisced. He helped my wrap up the wound and he took me to the hospital.
The doctor was finishing up his stitching and told me that I was lucky I didnt pull the file from my wrist because I could have bled to death. He went on to say that most people would have pulled the file from their wrist.
Fred waited patiently for me. I was curious how he knew not to pull the file. He said, "It is just common sense that is not too common." "You know you should have a wood handle on your file and you should hold it differently"
I was starting to get a little irratated again. What does he know about machining?
Fred then said, "Kiddo, my father was wood worker. I used to help him when I was kid. The lathe while turning real slowly is a very dangerous machine." I am not an expert but this knowledge was imparted to me when I was really young"
It was weird and then I just thought about what fred had said earlier that "common sense that is not too common". I guess he knew because he learned and he beleived what he learned. I know now because I experienced it.
I then asked Fred if he wanted to watch the basketball game. He said sure. "I told Fred that I am going to buy the pizza." We watched the game.
Fred said, "Why do you sneer so much? You ought to relax and enjoy life and you don't have to aruge just to be right."
I thought....hmmmmmmmm as I smeered my pizza with peppers as we waited for the commercial to end so we can see the last two minutes of the game.
Adrian Taglietti & paradigmsearch:
www.mscdirect.com
$.21 ea - $2.84 ea.- ( I have one in my kitchenette) belonged to my dad.
What did this have to do with Common
Sense -? curious/
any working class, common person, with open heart and eyes can provide you with as much common sense as you will need, preferably without much ego involved and with a kind intention.
I believe the common sense jars are sold next to time and patience jars.
Man, can you imagine if we could bottle these things? Regardless, common sense is a tough one. I've met many brilliant people, but they do not have common sense, or intuition. I believe its a learned skill. Some parents are great at teaching common sense to their children by modeling reasoning skills.
Being a product of the sixties, I came from a generation of parents that were strict and pretty much had the "do not speak unless spoken to" attitude as well as the "because I said so" attitude. Therefore, when I went off to college I had a very difficult time reasoning and making decisions. I wasnt savy and street smart - so to speak. I believe it is this combined skill that nurtures "common sense".
If this does not make sense then please excuse my lack of common sense in my responding (snicker) - I'm writing this during a bout of brain buzzin' insomnia
Common sense is a good judgment towards a certain matter which based on your own experience or beliefs.
My grandfather used to say, "If a person has no common sense by the time they are 14, they never will."
His meaning was it's an inborn trait, and cannot be learned.
That is the reason for so many stupid choices and acts we see people doing these days, such as going freakazoid-nutso over a stupid shoe sale. They have no common sense!
Dzy ; Fourteen years old is an age today where you are born with 'common sense' or you obtain it from family, school, church, or personal experiences - my one grandfather was from Scilly and he would probably choose such a young age. I agree people are getting more nutty.
I think it is one of those things that skips a generation - if your parents don't have it you will, because you will have to have common sense in order to survive - and vice versa, because if they have common sense they will seem to be covering it for you and you won't waste time trying to acquire it. Like most things except eye and hair color, common sense is not inherited. It just is learned rather slowly and without knowing why where or when, suddenly you have it! So you won't put your iphone down on top of the stove, for instance! If by the age of 60 you do not have it, try to find a nice old folks home where they will look out for you, because common sense becomes more necessary as one ages. believe me, I know whereof I speak!
Also, I do believe you can lose it, having had it and then one day suddenly it is gone. I have witnessed this behavior among various relatives who fell in love and completely lost their common sense, marrying among other tribes and hooking up with people who could barely count, seemingly. So beware! and do not misplace your common sense, especially while looking for a mate!
mega- Common Sense with Safety Issues is so important. A mother put her toddler in a playpen with a heavy television on top so as to keep the child inside and not get out while she went somewhere. The television got knocked into the playpen and suffocated the child and died The mother got sentenced. People are doing crazy things like this not only is it a lack of common sense but pure ignorance. Thanks for your view.
by JMMBS 13 years ago
There is no way for us to know if our morals that we have today is the right ones or not. Our Morals are made out of our "Common Sense".If we don't know if we have the right morals or not, then can we truly trust our conscience when it's based on the society/governmental morals?The common...
by Penny Godfirnon 10 years ago
Is there any way to teach people common sense and logic or is this just inborn?
by jonnycomelately 9 years ago
When a person says this:" Disbelievers will be given Hell & suffering for eternity. Have fear. "in a Question thread, yet says this: "Love to share! Sharing is caring!!"in his/her profile, can you believe such a contradiction? Is it a contradiction in normal everyday...
by TheSituation 14 years ago
I just finished writing a hub on this topic and I am wondering if people out there think that we will be able to come to a consensus on a common sense approach to immigration or is this topic just too emotional for serious rational discussion? Thought?
by H C Palting 10 years ago
Does it seem that common sense is increasingly uncommon?
by Rosalie O'Neal 13 years ago
Can you teach someone to have common sense?
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