COMMON SENSE DEFINED
If we’re going to think about common sense I guess we first need to look for a definition. One dictionary’s definition is:
common sense: (kòm¹en sèns) noun: Native good judgment. [Translation of Latin sênsus commúnis, common feelings of humanity.]
I get from the reference “native” that a little common sense comes from experience and a little may be given to each of us by God. When I was a child, after getting caught for something I had done, I lost count of the times my grand-mother said, “Sometimes you don’t show the common sense God gave a jackass!” So, from an early age I was informed that God did give us some kind of sense that is supposed to be “native” to our being and that even jackasses have some of this gift. Once a person reaches an age where conscious thought actually occurs, we continue to show signs of a common sense that apparently comes from God. For example, testing has proven that all children have an inborn fear of heights. Without anyone actually receiving lessons, common sense tells a child that if they fall or jump from a high place, they’re only going to fly straight to the bottom and that, most likely, they will only get to do it once. Then there’s common sense learned from experience. As a child growing up in Florida, I once chased down, and caught in my hand, a rather large, brown spider. Notice I said “once”. Fortunately for me the lesson was only painful and not deadly. No one had ever told me that spiders would bite. However, from that point forward, without ANY outside instruction, I was always aware that anything and everything “might” bite. Viola! …. Another seed of common sense had just been planted to hopefully keep at least one fool from early disaster. Unfortunately, this aspect of developing common sense can be somewhat painful, and takes longer with some than others. It does not take much common sense for most of us to know that running into a brick wall full force will be an uncomfortable and unrewarding experience. I have a wonderful daughter, who for some unknown reason, when she was young, insisted on experiencing many of life’s challenges, first-hand, in an equally similar manner with the usual predictable results. ZOOM! SPLAT! OUCH! More than once, she got her nose bloodied, before her common sense finally began to start showing itself.
I don’t know just how much common sense God actually decided to give the jackass, or if the jackass tried, could he ever improve his station in life beyond being a politician; but I hope and pray that now, as an older adult, I have developed that which the Lord did choose to give me, plus what I have learned the hard way, to a level of being able to help my children and even grand-children, “fine tune” their own common sense, while experiencing fewer bloody noses.