Sometimes I am seriously lacking in common sense. I hate to admit that since I’m generally considered a fairly intelligent individual, but sometimes I am an idiot. Like the time I was trying to bake sweet potatoes. I had a small apartment-sized oven back then. My mom was visiting, and she just stood there watching while I tried to put them into the oven without burning myself. I was baking them whole, so I held the potatoes with kitchen tongs and tried to slip them onto the rack.
Most mothers and daughters have a somewhat antagonistic relationship at times. You women know what I mean. Sometimes it seems like we can’t do anything right in their eyes. So, when she finally asked me what I was doing, I immediately got on the defensive and very testily told her I was trying to put those potatoes in the oven. She waited a few seconds then asked, “Why don’t you pull out the rack?” I just stood there, holding a potato with the kitchen tongs, and stared at her. About that point was when we got tickled, which is how many of our joint adventures turned out. One of us being incredibly stupid and the other one pointing it out.
Ed has a lot of common sense. Sometimes, however, his judgment is seriously lacking. Like the time I went out the front door and stepped on the door mat. It went flying one way and I went the other, finally landing flat on my back in the front yard. I might mention there must have been some rolling around going on, because my legs were covered in blood. I was hurting too much to figure out what happened.
Ed came outside and found me on the ground…bleeding. He stood over me, hands on hips, and declared “You’re too old to be doing that.” Since I talk bad about him a lot, I need to explain that I love this man dearly. That’s why he’s still alive. Had I been able to move, he wouldn’t have been. Luckily for him, he realized his mistake and covered it up by grabbing the mat and saying, “Bad mat! I’ll just throw this away.” Smart man!
When I fell again on the stoop a few months later, he had enough common sense to just keep quiet and once again trash the offending mat. It might have been because I was lying in the bushes crying. Luckily, they broke my fall, although I did end up with a sprained knee. And might I interject here that I didn’t always have so many slippages. It was only after I increased my life insurance that mysterious things, like mats suddenly moving, started to happen. I have warned them at the emergency room that my husband might possibly be trying to kill me, which is probably why he purchased a slip-proof mat. By the way, if you really do mention that at the ER, they don’t have much of a sense of humor. You’re going to have to explain quickly it’s a joke, or they’ll call the cops. Just sayin’.
Even with our lapses in mental agility, Ed and I are still far ahead of other folks in the common-sense department. There was a letter to the editor a while ago. Someone wrote the paper complaining about the airport. They bought a house near there a year ago and wanted the city to do something about the noise.
Their thought process escapes me. When did they look at the house before deciding to close the deal? 3 a.m.? If not, didn’t it occur to them they were 5 blocks from an airport? What did they think those big silver things flying overhead were? Really large birds? I would imagine that if a friend of theirs asked what part of town they were thinking of buying in, they told them it was close to the airport. Especially since that airport has been there a bazillion years. That should have rung the “there’s going to be a lot of noise” bell don’t you think?
One would think the city’s response would be to call them an idiot. But no. The city was seriously considering installing soundproofing in the homes around the airport. You know, those houses that were built well after the airport. What really bugs me about this lack of common sense is that if they do that, I’m going to have to pay for it with an increase in some tax somewhere. They’ll find a way to make those of us who were smart enough to buy someplace else pay for the mistakes of others.
This lack of clear thinking isn’t isolated totally to people who write the newspaper. We had a friend who got a DWI. I won’t even tell you my thoughts on that, because you can probably figure it out for yourself. I will say I didn’t have much sympathy for him and he got the “where was your head” lecture. You know what his complaint was? That he got a ticket. He figured that since he was within a mile of his house and just going to the store on the corner, he shouldn’t be ticketed. I wasn’t aware there were mileage rules involved in drinking and driving, but I could be wrong.
That pretty much brings me to what I perceive as the biggest lack of common sense there is. That’s the people who say they don’t want to go to church because there are hypocrites there. They know one person who proclaims to be a Christian but does stuff a Christian really wouldn’t or shouldn’t do. So, because there is one guy somewhere who’s a hypocrite, all churches everywhere are full of them.
Does that make any sense to you? It doesn’t to me. Following that line of reasoning, I could never eat at a restaurant again. Granted, I prefer home cooking, preferably mine, but sometimes I like to eat out. If one cook at one restaurant didn’t wash his hands when an inspector was there, it will be on the evening news. The “Kitchen Cop” segment. Since he didn’t wash his hands, no cook washes theirs. On the news one night was a segment about a house fire. All houses are unsafe. Another night was a car accident. All cars are dangerous, I guess. One of the well-known department stores had someone break into their computer system and get credit card information on their customers. You shouldn’t shop at a department store. So, basically, if you use their same logic, you’re living in a cardboard box somewhere, naked, hungry, and walking every place. It seems to make more sense to just figure out for yourself that one bad apple doesn’t spoil the whole bunch.
It’s not a prerequisite of Christianity that you attend church. It’s highly recommended since hanging around with like-minded individuals will help keep you centered, but it’s not mandatory. What is mandatory is that you don’t use one hypocrite as an easy excuse for not going to church. Or for not being a Christian. If you don’t want to go to church, that’s up to you. If you don’t want to be a Christian, you’re making a big mistake and missing out on the greatest blessings of your life, but…it’s still your decision. Just don’t blame all of us for what others do. Try to put a little common sense back into your thinking. All Christians and all churches are not created equally. Find the right one for you. Preferably one that’s not too near an airport. You’ll get distracted during the sermon.
Can I tell you what my pet peeve is. It is the cost of living raise. Every time people get a cost of living raise, sure nuff, The cost of living goes up. And why can the insurance companies go up on my insurance, just because they had to cover a disaster somewhere, but I can’t lower my payment for any reason. I could go on and on, but I won’t. Love from your cuz.
That’s one of mine, too! You get a dollar raise and milk goes up a dollar. Just ridiculous! I like your idea. Lower our insurance rates. Love 2 U 2, Cuz!