The Death of Common Sense
Sunday, June 23rd, 2002 Auto Liability“Nothing astonishes men so much as common sense and plain dealing,” said Ralph Waldo Emerson in his Essays. But what exactly is common sense? The dictionary suggests that it is “sound practical judgment.” Generally it has little to do with either intelligence or education. I’ve known some brilliant scholars, the straight A+, high IQ types who, in terms of practicality, were as dumb as oxen. My Irish peasant father, who left school in his early teens in 1910 because of the demands of the farm, had more common sense (as well as a good Irish temper) than any person I’ve ever known. That common sense included all of the elements of ethics: integrity, honesty, responsibility, and trustworthiness. He had sound, practical judgment that stood him well as an immigrant arriving in America at the very start of the Great Depression.
