common sense......the obituary

[Talon2.5]

The Obituary...

Today we mourn the passing of an old friend, by the name of Common Sense.
Common Sense lived a long life but died in the United States from heart
failure on the brink of the new millennium. No one really knows how old he
was, since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape.

He selflessly devoted his life to service in schools, hospitals, homes,
factories helping folks get jobs done without fanfare and foolishness. For
decades, petty rules, silly laws, and frivolous lawsuits held no power over
Common Sense. He was credited with cultivating such valued lessons as to
know when to come in out of the rain, why the early bird gets the worm, and
that life isn't always fair.

Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don't spend more
than you earn), reliable parenting strategies (the adults are in charge,
not the kids), and it's okay to come in second. A veteran of the Industrial
Revolution, the Great Depression, and the Technological Revolution, Common
Sense survived cultural and educational trends including body piercing,
whole language, and "new math." But his health declined when he became
infected with the "If-it-only-helps-one-person-it's-worth-it" virus.

In recent decades his waning strength proved no match for the ravages of
well intentioned but overbearing regulations. He watched in pain as good
people became ruled by self-seeking lawyers. His health rapidly
deteriorated when schools endlessly implemented zero-tolerance policies.

Reports of a six-year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a
classmate, a teen suspended for taking a swig of mouthwash after lunch, and
a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student only worsened his
condition. It declined even further when schools had to get parental
consent to administer aspirin to a student but could not inform the parent
when a female student was pregnant or wanted an abortion.
Finally, Common Sense lost his will to live as the Ten Commandments became
contraband, churches became businesses, criminals received better treatment
than victims, and federal judges stuck their noses in everything from the
Boy Scouts to professional sports. Finally, when a woman, too stupid to
realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot, was awarded a huge
settlement, Common Sense threw in the towel.

As the end neared, Common Sense drifted in and out of logic but was kept
informed of developments regarding questionable regulations such as those
for low flow toilets, rocking chairs, and stepladders.

Common Sense was preceded in death by his parents, Truth and Trust; his
wife, Discretion; his daughter, Responsibility; and his son, Reason. He is
survived by two stepbrothers: My Rights, and Ima Whiner.

Not many Americans attended his funeral because so few realized he was
gone.

[WharfRat]

sorry state of affairs, ain't it

[Revinrude]

Amen brother

[BathTubBabe]

Well Posted Skip.

[175checkmate]

Right on Skip. As I read your post, all the things came to mind of how true that is.
I deal with the death of common sense everyday at work, and in life.

I think comon sense was killed by "everyone owes me something,and I give nothing in return"

[Techno]

Thats odd. I thought it was common sense not to ingest a fluid hot enough that it can cause third degree burns on the outside of your body in 3 seconds.
I wonder what it would do to the inside?

That it was common sense that if someone gets maimed or killed you remove the product from the market, or eliminate the hazard. Not assume that settling out of court is cheaper than re-engineering a rolling bomb. That a person life is worth less than the profit from the sale of so many cars.


That it was common sense if the police can't understand the rights of the people then it needs to be spelled out to them.

That it was common sense that not only should children not work 12 hours a day but that they shouldn't be working at all.

That it was common sense that a person is a criminal after their conviction, a citizen before.


All of these came from court. The last came from a war. At the time none of them were common sense but status quo.


Common sense is like Apollo and Zeus, just a myth. We make our common sense-common, it doesn't just happen.

It's also common sense not to climb into a boat that goes over a hundred- but I won't go there. ? That didn't come out right for some reason.

A few more.
You can catch a cold from being in the rain- but it's all right to go swimming.
It's bad to drive a car in the rain- but it's all right to wash it with water.
Hot plaster on a gun shot wound is a sure cure- until they ran out and more wounded survived than who were treated.
Bleeding a person removes the "bad blood"- and their "lifes blood" too.
X speed on the water is faster than on the land- although the ground is always hard and has things called trees on it.
Putting a food rich heat insulator on a burn- butter.
Every one puts thier pants on the same, one leg at a time- who checked?
It's a 110 degrees outside-but it's dry heat.
Don't go swimming until 1/2 hour after eating- It's OK to drink though.
The best defense is an offense- it's easier to defend than attack.

[Tom D.]

So true Skip, So true.

It seems to be the ME generation, "Look out for ME". Especially on our roads. Today everybody is thinking MONEY, the MacDonald's coffee thing to someone tripping on the sidewalk. Lets suie,suie everbody! Make's ya sick sometimes.

Common sense, I think some people are born without it. Sad isn't it?

Tom

[ncst8er]

Common Sense is not (and never was) nearly common enough.

[Scott]

I'll be reprinting and sending that one around. Dang Skip ya been doin those deep thinking exercises again. Hard to disagree to anything ya said.

[175checkmate]

Skip, did you deep thoughts come from 3 days+1 chair+3 12packs.
What ever did it keep it up.
A rested brain is one that works.

[Talon2.5]

i was surfing other boat sites and found this and figured others would feel as i did when i read it, so i brought it in here

dont know who the author is but he's dead on!!

[sho305]

Yeah, so sick of the 'This hurt me, make it go away Mommy!' 'I don't feel quite right, give me a pill!' 'We gotta save the world!"

Your not going to make the world perfect, or make it revolve around you. So stop charging me for your futile attempts derived from your lack of smarts. How about saving those trees?!? Huh? Now we got fires like crazy. Same thing.

The middle road would have worked great. You wine, yell, and scream about your stupid ideas from your perfect fantacy land and guess what? I didn't work, after the land management people told you so. Now you got a bunch of stuff burned up, and a big tinder pile to clean up. What do you think the practice of forestry is for? Now it costs me.

You think peace is best now? We all do, but we want to live too, not get wacked by a freak from holy land. He is not like us, get over it. You kill him or be a target, period. How many hundreds of times does he have to prove that to you. Stop shutting your eyes while you investigate what he has done...or have you?

The liability problems here hurt all of us. Still it goes on so a few can win the lottery at our expense and there is no control on the lawers field. We need to change that so ignorance is not an excuse. I order ice on my McDonalds coffee, because the stuff is always to damn hot. My wife will drink it right down however....?

Common sense might have gained a little with GW, we will see.

Don't think we are not out here in force however.

[Mike Fjeld SS # 11]

I loved it! Wherever you found it , it is great! We need fewer lawyers and more common sense people to make Big Government go away. We were supposed to be a country that was run by the people, not by a select few, (who vote themselves a raise every time they get together) and who need to learn what it is like to be a common person! They are constantly taking the rights of parents away and giving it to the state, allowing lazy people live off our taxes and in return get taken care of better than the common man! They have no concept of real life! They're politicians-not common people. My father has a 9th grade education and he is the smartest man I know! Pam Fjeld

[Talon2.5]

people tell me i need to quit smoking, i think........"why so i can be around to watch this get WORSE?"

[gaineso]

Skip, you need to quit smoking so you can enjoy the boat until "Big Brother" in all his infinite, God-like wisdom decides you must be "PROTECTED" from it.

Great stuff. Glad you posted it. When I was working at AlliedSignal Aerospace in Ocala, my QA partner and I spent a disproportionate amount of our time "Rounding up the sheep after they jumped out of the pen -- again". We were constantly amazed at the total lack of sense of any kind. We were convinced that the people on the production floor were lik Mr. Bester from Babylon 5 said "Hired from the shallow end of the gene pool". Although we sometimes thought some of them were afraid of water and never even got a toe in the pool.

Keep up the good work, and get the bottom of the boat wet soon.