Common Sense Killed the Cat?

I am a firm believer in "Common Sense"...it has been ingrained into me since I was young. I often heard the phrase used by my mother and father, as well as my very wise grandpa Hugh, whenever I was hanging out with friends, going to the swimming pool, or heading off to town on my bike and eventually car.  It has always been there for me and I now marvel at the vast majority that don't use it.

Definitions (that apply to this blog...because there are many):

Common: [kom.uhm] -adjective: widespread; general; ordinary: common knowledge.
              Synonyms: universal, prevalent, popular
Sense: [sens] -noun: something that is reasonable; the value or worth of something; merit
                     -verb: to grasp the meaning of; understand
                     - Idioms: to regain one's good judgement or realistic point of view
              Synonyms: awareness, apprehension

Unfortunately it seems to have skipped my generation, for the most part, and if something is not done to teach the following generation it will slowly but surely become extinct.  Here are a few questions that should be easy to answer and are fairly well known:

1. If you don't turn in your homework on time, what grade will you get?
2. What do you do at a stop sign?
3. What is the legal drinking age?
4. Who do you call in case of an emergency?

I could go on all night, but I think you get the point.  What is so difficult about knowing right from wrong, yes from no, and having morals?  Here is the answer plain and simple, we no longer think for ourselves.  We let the government decide, our addictions decide, and most of all the media.  We have become so dependant on who says what, that we no longer have a grasp on reality.

Examples:
These past months if you read the headlines on cnn.com you will see that it has reported many earthquakes since the 7.0 earthquake that hit Haiti this past January.  This was a tragic time for that country and I applaud the out reach that not only our country but many gave to Haiti in its time of need.  But I digress, I found myself glued to their home page waiting to see when the next one hit, thinking "what is happening in the world".  A few days later I came to the realization that earthquakes happen everyday and that they are not a rarity.  But because they were reporting all the quakes it sucked me into this unrealistic belief that something bad was happening and that it could be the Apocalypse or Armageddon.

This can also be said about mines collapsing, oil spills, hate crimes and even politics.  I am not being insensitive to these horrific events and in the case of the miners from Chile, miracles.  I am simply saying that the media has got us where they want us, and they know it.

The same can be said for an alcoholic that says "one won't do any harm" and then one turns in to 2 and then in to 5.  The addiction has taken over and this person can no longer make common sense decisions and all that matters is "where is my next drink coming from".

Religions can have the same effect on people too, but I won't go in to that tonight.  I do believe in god but I don't need someone telling me what scriptures to live by, when that person picks and chooses which ones they want others to live by and forgets the others because they "don't apply to them".

Along with "Common Sense" comes the word "Responsibility"...yeah that is a big word for a lot of people.  I am not only talking about responsibilities at work and home but in choices as well.  These choices can be anything from driving drunk or calling a designated driver, buying your 100th pair of shoes or milk for breakfast or even facebooking at work (guilty) or finishing a task for the day.  The choices you make shape who you are and what your future has in store for you.

Lesson of the day: Common Sense does NOT kill the cat but if you can't think for yourself and make good choices the cat may kill you with its own common sense. 

BTW- I do know that the phrase is actually "Curiosity killed the cat", I just liked the play on words.