A Sensible Look at Common Sense

It seems like every year there are more and more stories about people doing increasingly stupid things that land them in increasingly stupid situations.  I don't think that's because there are more people doing more stupid things; it's just the fact that the way our culture works these days, stupid people get lots of attention, and lots of attention means lots of money for the people that make it possible for you to give them the attention.  That's a topic for another post, however.

As we watch these people doing these stupid things, we tend to ask ourselves, "What on earth were they thinking?  Have they no common sense?"  Yet I wonder what the phrase "common sense" could really mean if we looked at it more closely.  I do not think it means what we think it means.

Several years ago, I was pondering this very topic - the nature of common sense.  It occurred to me that while normally I'm a very sensible person, there have been, on occasion, times when people would rightly have reason to look at me and say, "What on earth were you thinking?  Have you no common sense?"  This intrigued me because it seemed to imply that common sense may be a little transitory.  There have also been times when someone that I would definitely consider a little... shall we say, slow?... has suddenly exercised a surprising amount of rationality that seemed to come out of nowhere.  Could this inconsistency simply be a random happenstance, enabled by other factors such as lack of sleep, or eating more Wheaties than normal?  Or is there something else at work here?

After thinking about it for a while, I realized that the problem with common sense was not with the "sense" part, it was with the "common" part.  You see, there are a lot of definitions for the word "common."  The one we typically ascribe to the phrase "common sense" means that something is widespread, that it can be found easily, in abundance.  Another definition we might use in this context would be that it's something that two or more people each have (i.e. common interests).

However, "common" can also refer to something that is shared by an entire community.  This use of the word can be found in terms like, "common hall" or "common bathroom".  Think of a common bathroom in a dorm for instance - everyone can use it, and no matter who uses it it's always the same, but they can't use it at the same time.  Hmm, maybe now we're on to something.

So my theory is that there is one global common sense, shared by all human beings, but there's only so much that can go around.  While you concentrate really hard on the proper way to change that light bulb without getting hurt, some poor sap in China just stuck his finger in a power outlet.  Think about it.  It makes sense.

So the next time you find yourself about to yell at someone for being completely absent-minded, just stop and ask yourself, "Was I hogging all the common sense for myself?" and if the answer is yes, go and apologize to them as they ride away in the ambulance.  They'll thank you for it later.