My Sunday Thought - August 16,2015: "Common" Sense?

“In this life you've got to hope for the best, prepare for the worst and take whatever God sends.”

-- L.M. Montgomery (1874-1942), children and youth author

I'm not sure I agree with this sage advice.  As career military, I would be more inclined to prepare for the best outcome possible, hope it all doesn't go to hell in a handbasket due to something unforeseen or overlooked, then bite down hard on the cigar butt, charge your weapon, say a quick prayer, and get ready to annihilate whatever evil is thrown your way.  But, that's just me.  As an author of children's stories, like Anne of Green Gables (1908), L.M. Montgomery was entertaining a softer view of quieter times.  I'd like to think that neither view is wrong.  It's all about the context of the times; who, what, when, and where, the person, place, and thing.

“Common sense is not so common.”

-- Voltaire (1694-1778), playwright, author, philosopher

Back when I was growing up, mom would always advise that, when in doubt, always use good common sense. That was truly sage advice, especially because everyone knew what common sense was... I mean, it was common. No one uses common sense anymore and, according to Voltaire, it would seem no one was using it back in the 18th century, either. So, good reason dictates common sense it isn't that common. As a matter of fact, the headstone at the top of this post would seem to be on target as it is downright rare to see anyone taking responsibility for their lack of reason and discretion.

I am strongly in favor of common sense, common honesty and common decency. This makes me forever ineligible to any public office of trust or profit in the Republic. But I do not repine, for I am a subject of it only by force of arms.”

-- H.L. Mencken (1880-1956), journalist and author, politics and philosophy

(Aside: Has anyone else noticed that the late 19th and early 20th centuries were rife with people that had initials for their first name?  D.H. Lawrence, T.S. Elliot, D.L. Hughley... oh, wait, he just has hair from the period.  Just saying...)

Back in the day, this total lack of common sense was something more relegated to the political arena, which made little sense in itself as much common sense went into choosing the candidate to represent us.  There was, and is, a disconnect which continues to this day between politics and good common sense.  Although, today there is as little good sense used to choose the candidate as the candidate chosen possesses.  Children are voting that know little of the issues and, when I say children you don't necessarily have to be under 21.  Many mature adults aren't necessarily stupid, they're just ignorant of the issues plaguing society, and many of our young adults have never suffered responsibility and/or just don't care.  Anymore, I think we would be well served to drop common from any part of good sense.  If you have it, bravo!  If you don't, well... welcome to the ranks of the common man.

“Common sense is seeing things as they are; and doing things as they ought to be.”

-- Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-1896), author, Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852)

It doesn't take intelligence to have good sense. Many of our brightest minds have the worst of sense. Many of our greatest thinkers, politicians, and filthy rich, have "people" that fill in those massive gaps in their good sense, which ego has left void, with some small amount of wisdom not made available to them in their expensive centers of "higher" education.

And what have we for the young of today?  The school of hard knocks closed when everything started being handed out without effort on their part.  Why should they care, when the state will provide for them?  It would seem many of them will dance to whatever tune is played as long as promises are made.  And, even though promises are not kept, they continue to love the tune.  They don't realize that all lives matter, and white students of "privilege" march against "white privilege" without understanding only 50% of this country actually works for a living, and young people of all colors from our nation are dying trying to fight foreign Islamic heretics overseas.  Privileged?  Using good sense?  I think not. 

And, somehow, probably divine guidance, we have arrived at religion.

Nothing can be more contrary to religion and the clergy than reason and common sense.

-- Baron d'Holbach (1723-1789), author

No truer statement was ever spoken?  Well, okay, there have been quite a few.  But, when you consider common sense is less evident than faith, one must conclude there is reason, yes?  Is religion not the opium of the masses?

"Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people."

-- Karl Marx (1818-1883), philosopher

According to Marx, it is.  But, he also tells us it is the glimmer of hope for the hopeless, the food for the starving, and the beating heart of a heartless world.  It is, in fact, faith; faith that things will get better, if not in this life, then in the next.  Samuel Taylor Coleridge wrote, "Common sense in an uncommon degree is what the world calls wisdom."  The 20th century theologian, Reinhold Niebuhr, wrote, "God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference."  

Honesty and decency, doing the right thing, hope and love, wisdom and religion; common sense?  Sometimes I sit and wonder...

This Sunday you have an opportunity to lay a few flowers on the grave of Common Sense.  On the other hand, you also have an opportunity to discuss good sense with your children and friends.  If one can see the light, and they can turn another, perhaps good sense will become common once more.  

One must have faith.

Editor's Note 

(re: disclaimer cum "get out of jail free" card) 

Before you go getting your panties in a bunch, it is essential to understand that this is just an opinion site and, as such, can be subjected to scrutiny by anyone with a differing opinion. It doesn't make either opinion any more right or wrong than the other. An opinion, presented in this context, is a way of inciting others to think and, hopefully, to form opinions of their own, if they haven't already done so.

It is my fervent hope that we keep open and active minds when reading opinions and then engaging in peaceful, constructive, discussion and debate in an arena of mutual respect concerning the opinions put forth. After over twenty years as a military intelligence analyst, planner, and briefer, I have come to believe engaging each other in this manner and in this arena is the way we will learn tolerance and respect for differing beliefs, cultures, and viewpoints.

We all fall from grace, some more often than others; it is part of being human. God's test for us is what we do afterward, and what we learn from the experience.

Frank Anthony Villari (aka, Pastor Tony)

Pastor Tony is founder of the Congregation for Religious Tolerance and author/editor of the Congregation's official blog site, "The Path."