Befitting as a precursor to World Environment Day, a heartwarming piece of news made its rounds on social media just recently. A grandmother in Queens, New York set the perfect example of sustainability by converting her old microwave into a mailbox. She positioned the gadget outside her house on her lawn. The lady made it easier for the mailman with a label at the top which read “Mailbox” and one at the bottom right corner which said “press to open”.
This is not just a fine lesson that teaches the mantra of “reduce, reuse, and recycle”. The incident also points to a genius of a woman in whom plenitude of common sense resides. Something that could have been possibly discarded was put into useful operation.
Common sense is so underrated!
We often hear discussions about people who are academically bright and how their intelligence has been such a high point in their lives. But rarely do we indulge in conversations about individuals whose superpower is their common sense.
There are people who may not have even attended a school or a college yet still have sensible solutions to problems. What is in play is their common sense. It’s their keen gift of observation. They learn by seeing what is happening around them. In the process, they develop a sense of judgment that helps them to decide wisely while handling practical matters in their day-to-day lives.
It is possible that someone who is an erudite scholar may not be able to offer right advice to others nor themselves take the correct steps while tackling mundane matters. One’s educational quotient is therefore not a guarantee that he or she will always make the smartest decisions.
The varying responses to a practical problem
A couple of years ago, I formulated a hypothetical situation based on something that had really happened and asked for an answer from three youngsters. For obvious reasons, I choose not to name the respondents and would like to refer to them as A, B, and C.
So my question was: Your puppy goes to chew the cord while your laptop is being charged. He gets an electric spark. How will you save your little pet?
The solutions provided were
A: I will try to pull the puppy away.
B: I will call the emergency number to remove the puppy from biting the cord.
C. Simple. I will unplug the cord to cut off the electricity supply.
The smartest reply obviously came from C, and it was an instant reaction. Respondent A did not even think that he/she would get the shock too while struggling to pull the puppy away. And B failed to realize that it would be too late till emergency services came to handle the situation.
The moral of this story: You cannot always rack your brain to remember what you learned in school. Nor can you always rely on Google for an answer. It is the sense that flows spontaneously and naturally that will come to your aid.
A case of common sense rather uncommon!
My mother shared anecdotes from her childhood about how her siblings outsmarted each other. One incident pulled out of the archives of the forties really tickled our funny bones. She and her younger brother were at their study tables, doing their work for the day. My uncle had done a math problem wrongly on his slate. When my grandfather asked him for his slate pencil to correct the mistake, he refused to hand it to him. On insistence, he apologetically looked at the floor and sheepishly gave him a white medicine pill.
What was it all about? My grandfather, a very strict disciplinarian, would always insist that the children tell him in advance before their school and writing supplies ran out. This little guy had apparently forgotten to tell his father to get him the pencils. So being afraid of getting shouted at, he wanted to manage that evening by cleverly using a pill instead of a slate pencil to do his job!
So many decades later, I still marvel at this incident when a child’s simple sense was at its pinnacle to handle a situation.
Human beings have the natural instinct to survive in some way or the other. When difficult, awkward, and unanticipated situations arise, it is always one’s common sense that comes to the rescue. Rarely does the knowledge that you gathered from books come in handy. It is your instinct or gut sense that plays a very important role here. This truth is echoed in a quote from American author Patrick Lencioni that beautifully summarizes the idea: “Success is not a matter of mastering subtle, sophisticated theory but rather of embracing common sense with uncommon levels of discipline and persistence.”
rashmi writes 