Join Diane and I as we try to make sense of common sense. (Delores is on hiatus for the time being.)
You can leave your poem in the comments on either of our blogs, or if you want to post it on your own blog, please leave us a comment so we can find you and cheer you on. Use the topic or not; the objective is just to exercise our brains and have fun.
*****
I had a whole long meandering post written about how I'm not really sure what common sense is, and whether you're born with it or if you can acquire it through actively seeking knowledge and experience, and how I've never, ever been accused of having it (which feels like it's probably a bad thing,) and how some things that come easily to me don't come easily to other people, and vice versa, and I wasn't really getting anywhere with the post except making myself so bored my eyes were rolling around in my head, and I figured in the interest of not driving everyone away I'd better get right to the poem.
So I did. Here it is. It's the same thing I just wrote except the lines are shorter and there is punctuation. I hope your eyes don't roll around in your head.
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Common Sense
What is common sense?
Is it something
We are born with?
Or do we acquire it
Through experience?
I am curious
Because I feel I lack it
And I've been trying
My entire adult life
To develop it.
Tell me.
Tell me what you think.
 |
Is it something you're born with? |
 |
Or can you learn it? |
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Thank you for reading. Apologies for a rather lacklustre poetry effort. My mind has been very occupied with our daughter's impending move to the USA. The leaving date is one week and one day away. I'm feeling pretty bleak as the date gets closer.
Wishing you a good week, my friends.
That's a cool way to write a poem.
ReplyDeleteI think writing out my thoughts first gave me a road map to write the poem :)
DeleteCommon sense isn't common. At all. And I have yet to see a satisfactory definition of the mythical beast. It seems to be defined by those who believe that they possess it.
ReplyDeleteAnd a big yes to the second image, and a sigh and a shudder to the first.
Look after yourself in this anxious time. Despite being childless I do (I think) understand some of the impending loss and worry which is haunting you at the moment.
Hugs. Today and every day.
Your kindness is gratefully received, EC. I'm not doing as well as I thought and hoped I would.
DeleteGood thoughts back to you, my dear friend.
I'll just say that in my experience, having common sense, and actually using common sense, are two distinct and often unrelated things.
ReplyDeleteI can relate to the mental state, as we have to move soon, and the sense of the impending deadline gets a little stronger with each passing day.
-Doug in Oakland
It's like a freight train bearing down behind us!
DeleteI think it's a combination of "something" (don't know what) you are born with, like maybe a natural talent for avoiding disasters and doing the right thing, then experience plays a hand as we learn from our parents what to do and what to avoid etc.
ReplyDeleteThat's more or less how I look at it, too, River. And how can people learn certain things without making their own mistakes, too?
DeleteI don't believe for a second that you're short on common sense.
ReplyDeleteThe pictures both contain a whole lotta wisdom.
I'm sorry your daughter is moving far away. We all want our kids to be happy but we prefer it if we're happy nearby!
I think a lot of lack of common sense is lack of life experience. I feel wiser than I did at 20. Or 40. But some young people seem wise for their age, know what I mean?
DeleteYou do not give yourself enough credit, Jenny. Of course, you have common sense. It is about listening to your gut and heart and experience. Mistakes are made but that is what makes us human.
ReplyDeleteI like that way of looking at it, Arleen. I was a naive 20- and even 30-year-old, but I did learn from my mistakes . . .
DeleteWe learn from experience too, so any common sense we lack to start can be added over time. That’s how I see it anyway!
ReplyDeleteI think that's essentially my view, too, Marie.
DeleteI hope the move goes well. I'm sure it's difficult to be confronting such a major change, but as you pointed out, there's always Skype! (Trying to look on the bright side.) I have no answers on the common sense front. Like the Supreme Court justice once memorably said about obscenity, "I know it when I see it!"
ReplyDeleteI hope Skype lives up to its press! As I tick off the remaining times I will see my daughter and her family, the sadness seems to grow.
DeleteWhy on god's green earth would she want to come here? To help us overthrow the most disgusting, corrupt, inhumanitarian on the planet? Is she carrying a gun? There must be a reasonable explanation. No wonder you're distraught.
ReplyDeletehis all goes back to your common sense question. I wish her and you all the best, in reality.
They are moving for a job opportunity for her husband. He is an American citizen and was finding the job pickings slim in our area. Thank you for your good wishes, Jono. I hope it works out well for them, because it will be a lot easier to be happy for them if they are both happy with the move.
DeleteBeen there done that with a daughter. I don't get to see her very often and I still miss her, but I'm happy that she went after the career she wanted and got it.
ReplyDeleteAs for common sense, I wish I had a dollar for every time someone has said to me, (name of person) has lotsa book larnin' but ain't got no common sense. I always felt that those comments were aimed at me, but it seems to me that we both have enough common sense to read good books and to use our language correctly.
Love,
Janie
Book larnin' and common sense are not mutually exclusive, are they now? :D
DeleteMy daughter isn't overly thrilled over the move so that adds a layer of unhappiness to my own. I think if she were unambiguously happy about it, it would be less wrenching. Somewhat. Okay, a tiny bit!
Hallo Jenny, you did better than me with the poem. Didn't even have a whisper of an idea. I think common sense is something built into every one of us, sometimes we know intuitively when to use it and sometimes we have DUH moments when it has left the building which has happened to me many times, lol.
ReplyDeleteNot a happy time for you and I imagine your daughter at the moment, but once they have actually moved you can get into a new 'normal' routine of skyping/facetiming. It is this time of waiting for the dreaded day of the move that is the killer.
Best wishes to you all at this time. By the way, did you feel like this when your son moved away?
You hit the nail on the head, I think, Joan when you said it's this time of waiting that is so hard. I will move forward after that, I am sure, and so will our daughter.
DeleteOur son doesn't live very far away! I've left him out of this because he reads my blog from time to time :)
Sending you lots of hugs. I can imagine how stressful it is all around with this move.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Martha. I was doing okay until the last few days, when I can suddenly count on less than one hand how many times I'll see them before they leave . . .
DeleteDid you really read all those books listed on the right of the page? I have read many of them, but not all, and it seems to me that you enjoy the same kind of books that I do. So I'm going to make a list of these books and read whatever i can find in our local library.
ReplyDeleteHah! Yes, I have read them all but the list starts back when I started my blog in 2016 (a heading which coincidentally you can likely see to the right of this reply). I didn't get to read much for a long time and when I started again I was fortunate to have a lot of free time to read so I am making up for lost time. I think you have a good chance of finding these titles at the library because, although many of them are widely read books, they are not new releases for the most part, and I would expect there is no wait for them. I hope so anyhow! Good luck :)
DeleteWishing you a good week as well. I didn't realize your daughter's move was already upon us. Take care.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Mr. S. - yes, it's too soon!
DeleteHey dear Jenny!
ReplyDeletelike always you said much in few lines and each has full true perception of this idea!
i loved most your simple sentence "things come to me as easily as they don't come to others"
Yes you have this blessing my friend and this is why life is lighter and things are easy to resolve for you i am very much sure about it and believe me it is not bad judgement
it just followed by my own common sense :)
Yes, I think everyone has things they are good at and we are all different in what is easy or hard for us to do. Thank you for your kind comment, dear baili :)
DeleteYour poem is fine - I'm impressed that you managed to write anything at all with such an upheaval looming over you. Sending good thoughts your way...
ReplyDeleteThanks, Diane. I felt really lazy posting that poor excuse for a poem!
DeleteThe thing about common sense is that it's neither common nor sense!
ReplyDeleteCLICK HERE for Bazza’s habile Blog ‘To Discover Ice’
Isn't that the truth?!
DeleteI think common sense is probably a product of both nature and nurture. Sadly, I didn't get it either way. It would really come in handy but at this stage in my life I'm just going to have to work around it. Acceptance and self knowledge is probably just as useful. I understand the nagging worry for your daughter and the sense of loss you feel. Very tough. They have your love to lean on which is a wonderful gift from you.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your final thought, Susan; it helps. I agree that acceptance and self knowledge are good tools to have. Like you, I have decided to accept my lack of common sense. Experience can make up for a lot, too, I think.
DeleteHappy Friday, jenny_o!!!
ReplyDeleteBack at ya, Mr. S :)
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