Common Sense Thrown Right Out the Window

Common sense (from Latin Sensus communis) is “knowledge, judgement, and taste which is more or less universal and which is held more or less without reflection or argument”. As such, it is often considered to represent the basic level of sound practical judgement or knowledge of basic facts that any adult human being ought to possess. I wanted to start this off with a definition of “common sense”. In light of that definition, I have to say that many have chosen to rid themselves of it. It can be something as simple and yet profound as the sun will come up every day, it’s a factual common sense. It can be that we should treat people with common curtesy, which ranges in degree from person to person, upbringing, background and geographical location. But still a common sense in the nature of the definition. But sadly, I see so many instances where common sense is just ignored or even denied all outright. Wisdom, life experience, age is supposed to nurture and add to our common sense. I have myself reflected on past situations where common sense would have, should have been applied instead of the faux pas that it wasn’t a life-or-death situation. Every day people do not use common sense that can and does affect their daily life. Why do we do this. Why do we allow or even throw common sense out of the window and cruise through the moment of life like there will be no consequences, no ill effects, that everything will just be ok. I would have to say largely from ego. I think therefore I am. I’m invincible, I’m right, I’m living in the moment, and it “feels” good. The list goes on and on.

I remember a long time ago, as a teenager, laying on my living room floor thinking, “how old will I be in the year 2000”? That was in the 80’s and here we are 2025, time has flown by. So has many an opportunity to cling to common sense and more often than not, to do the right thing. That’s just it with common sense; it guides us to make the right choice almost every single time. So why are we so quick to discard it? Why are we so quick to ignore it? Why are we so quick to follow an event, to believe in a way of thinking that is contrary to common sense? We do it all the time. Take the Jim Jones disaster. For those of you who don’t know, look it up, it’s not pretty. It’s very blatant common sense to understand NOT to do the things they did, NOT to believe in the things they did but yet over 900 people still did. Common sense thrown right out the window. WHY? In hindsight and from the outside, it’s easily understood that common sense was completely lost to the victims of Jones Town. But yet all those people made a choice, and they chose what they thought, what they believed was right. Common sense tells us that taking your life or children’s lives in the name of anything doesn’t quite fit the sense of common or intelligent. But this happened in 1978 and yet is still happening in 2025.

We are a gullible species. We are quick to believe in lies, in conspiracy theories, in delusions. We are quick to react in fear, which I have always referred to as, False Evidence Appearing Real. People are swayed into various different cults, gangs, and even everyday thinking that this is the way something is. I must do this, I must think this even though common sense says, “No, don’t do it”. Much of the time not even being ignored or denied but just not even being heard. Again, I ask why? Why do we have common sense and not use it, not recognize it, not even hear it? Partly ego, emotion, partly just plain stupidity. For having such a big brain, often times we are a very unintelligent species. We are destroying this planet faster and faster as each year passes. We have been destroying each other for hundreds of thousands of years if not millions. Recent history reveals this quite measurably. We engage in thought processes that are the opposite of common sense and think it’s the right path. Right path to what? I don’t know. But if more people were able to step back, remove themselves from a situation, a moment, they might be able to pull common sense from the recesses of their mind and apply it for the betterment of themselves and those around them. I just don’t see some people doing that much anymore. We have grown complacent, lazy and even in our big thinking, many are just rats on the wheel, going round and round, round and round. Where has the common sense gone? I implore you to look, it’s still there, y’all just gotta be a little less ridged and a little more open and allow common sense to do its thing. It’s a good thing I’m telling ya.