OPINION: Common Sense Is Dying Out!

I had a call the other day from a very nice lady who was concerned about our community's kids. She was driving around dusk and almost hit some kids who were walking along the side of the road with (versus against) the traffic and who weren't wearing bright colored clothes.

It scared her enough that she wanted me to write about it in my column. She wondered if the schools taught things such as which side of the road to walk on. I don't know if they do or not. I suspect they do talk about it, but it isn't just the school's responsibility but also the parents who are to make sure to teach kids things to keep them safe.

I told her that I had the same scenario a few days ago, only it was with an adult walking on the wrong side of the road. Luckily, I saw him but it was the same situation she described. So parents and teachers, tell your kids to be safe.

All of this started me thinking about common sense. It has been said that common sense is not all that common, and we can see that every day in so many situations. There are still glimpses of it, but it seems to be dying in today's society.

We place such a premium on getting an "education" that we overlook teaching our kids plain old common sense. I have observed many "educated idiots," as I call them, who may know a lot of facts that come out of a class but who can't function in everyday life.

Unfortunately, the demise of common sense does not discriminate and we see a host of politicians who may know a lot about "theories" but very little about how life actually works. This is sad enough on its own, but they are selling their "theories" and "policy proposals" to an electorate that is also suffering from a lack of common sense.

People who presume themselves to be fairly intelligent are buying the "snake oil" that a lot of liberals are selling in order to fund their campaigns to be the next president. The Democratic candidates just keep trying to outdo each other on promising more and more to the public. And the public (or at least a whole bunch of it) just keeps cheering them on without any real questioning of how they are going to pay for all this "free" stuff.

I see some glimmer of hope because even late-night talk show hosts are starting to question some of the liberal doublespeak regarding the financing of more and more programs. As a liberal, you know you are in trouble when that starts happening.

I would like to say that you can try to talk sense to some people and show them facts. But I have found that the mere mention of the word Trump causes some liberals to completely shut down. I'm pretty sure it goes along with the death of common sense.

Kevin Wilson is a former state representative who was born in Goodman and now lives in Neosho. Opinions expressed are those of the author.