Rosy Glow – Common Sense

By

Andrew DeMarco

Not all of this Rosy Glow are my original thoughts, but sometime others can just say it better.

“Common sense is not so common.”

While this quote can be attributed to many it is most attributed to François-Marie Arouet a French Enlightenment writer, historian and philosopher famous for his wit, his attacks on the established Catholic Church, and his advocacy of freedom of religion, freedom of expression and separation of church and state. He was also better known as Voltaire. Voltaire was born in 1695 and lived until 1778 so imagine what he would have thought about common sense had he been alive today. If he felt that way in the 18^th century, he would probably be spinning in his grave and probably would say that common sense is dead.

To best understand why common sense is not so common, one has to look at the definition of common sense. According to Webster’s Dictionary it is defined as a sound and prudent judgment based on a simple perception of the situation or facts. The key here is “a simple perception” which means that experts or those who think they know better should not get involved. We can see this is in just about every case where common sense seems dead.

What follows is a Eulogy to Common Sense which I came across some time ago. Please take note I have no idea who the author is, but he or she is a far better writer than I am and can express this far better than I could. I also wish I could give the author proper credit for this take on the death of common sense.

Common Sense Eulogy

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 can earn and 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 6-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 that they themselves had failed to do in disciplining their unruly children.

It declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer sun lotion or an aspirin to a student; but could not inform parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion.

Common Sense lost the will to live as the 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 could 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, by his wife Discretion, his daughter Responsibility, and his son, Reason. He is survived by his 4 stepbrothers – I Know My Rights, I Want It Now, Someone Else Is To Blame and I’m A Victim. Not many attended his funeral because so few realized he was gone.

I try to keep an open mind and give a middle of the road approach to my ramblings here in Bob’s Rosy Glow, but recent developments in the Middle East and the rise of ISIS leads me to another common sense thought. Should we really be making an issue of how we treat prisoners in our care or should we worry more about how our hostages are being treated?

Many complain about our treatment of prisoners at Guantanamo. Do we waterboard these prisoners? I would say yes we probably do. Do we provide them with 3 meals a day according to their religious beliefs, big screen televisions, and soccer fields? Yes we do. How do our enemies treat hostages and make no mistake they are hostages in that they have not raised arms against anyone. In most cases they are humanitarian workers of reporters just trying to do their jobs.  How are they treated?  With beheadings.

So when faced with some decisions, or looking at situations which could affect us let’s not over complicate them. Let’s take a step back and look at the simple facts and make common sense decisions (no experts needed). I am sure when decisions are made with no fuss, it is probably the right decision, and when it is all said and done it will give us that feeling Cousin Bob would call that….Rosy Glow.