I truly love common sense, and I really like being with people who show it regularly. Common sense is one of the most important traits that human beings can show, I believe, for it allows us to avoid stupid mistakes and to do things that make sense, no matter what the circumstances.
The problem seems to be that common sense often contradicts the wants and needs of other people who have influence over us. It can even contradict our own wants and needs--if something goes wrong with our plumbing but I have no expertise or experience with plumbing, common sense tells us to hire someone who does. But what if we don't have enough money to pay a plumber to come out and fix things? Then we make the decision to do it ourselves even though we're not quite sure what we're doing, and that's a decision that can end up costing us tons more money if we make mistakes that need even more professional help.
I think that some people simply never have learned about common sense. They're not able to look at a situation and figure out what the clearest, most common-sensical approach to dealing with it would be. If a child is having a bad day and being a pain, we'll often see parents get upset with the kid, telling them to knock it off and to act better. Common sense would tell us, though, that the most important thing that we can do is to find out what's wrong--especially if the behavior isn't normal for that person.
Everybody gets so much information all day long
that they lose their common sense.
-Gertrude Stein
It's rather easy to lose track of common sense in a world that pressures us to know everything, and to do everything quickly. Sometimes we lose common sense because of our tendency to hurry--we ask ourselves, "What would be the quickest solution to this problem?" rather than "Which solution makes the most sense and has the best chance of being effective?" Our desire to get things done and move on to the next thing can hurt us rather significantly if we're not careful, and it's hard to be careful if we're constantly focused on time.
We also lose our ability to practice common sense when we overthink. We tend to overanalyze so much of what we do because we've been taught that logic and reason are the most important traits that we can exercise when dealing with any sort of problem. After all, the human being has been gifted with reason, so we should use our reason in every situation, right? But things don't always work out that way. One of the most common stereotypes of men is that we tend not to stop and ask for directions, even though common sense tells us that someone who lives in the area would be a very good source of information if we're looking for something. But we convince ourselves that we can "figure it out," and we keep looking even though we've never been in this particular place ourselves. Of course, all locals aren't going to be able to give us effective directions, but the chances of them knowing how to get somewhere in their own town are much better than the chances of us being able to find something that we haven't found yet.
It is a thousand times better to have common sense without
education than to have education without common sense.
-Robert Green Ingersoll
Our tendency to rely upon technology has been a disaster for common sense. Once my wife and I were driving with another couple, and the man driving was relying on his GPS device for directions. We were very hungry, and we were looking for a place to eat. As we passed through a town, we passed a sign that told us that the next junction was straight ahead, while the downtown area was to the right. I fully expected him to take a right so that we could find a restaurant in the downtown area, but just then his device "spoke" to him and told him to go straight--it was telling him how to reach his destination by the shortest route possible. Even though we were extremely hungry, he followed the spoken directions of his GPS, and we ended up bypassing the downtown area, and any chance we had of finding a restaurant in that town.
When the philosopher's argument becomes tedious, complicated,
and opaque, it is usually a sign that he or she is attempting to prove
as true to the intellect what is plainly false to common sense.
-Edward Abbey
We truly should not put logic and rational thought and information on the pedestals upon which so many of us put them. Common sense, I believe, should always be our first goal when deciding upon any course of action. Sometimes there will be other needs involved that will force us to not follow the most common-sensical approach and to look for longer-lasting solutions to problems, but in my experience, common sense will help us out far more often in far more many ways than anything else. It can help us in our relationships, in our jobs, in our recreation, with our possessions and our homes and our dreams and goals and desires--but only if we make the effort to recognize it, and make the decision to follow it.
You'll find more thoughts and ideas on common sense here.
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