I was driving across town the the other day and drove passed the carcass of a skunk that hadn’t successfully navigated the roadway. The delightful armoa told me immediately that it was a skunk.
It’s a common scent.
Earlier that same day, I read a story about an individual who had a 1943 zinc penny that was going to fetch him a “pretty penny” at an auction.
Pennies. Common cents.
Then, I was advised that the government shutdown was continuing and there was no end in sight. Individuals on both sides of the political aisle were pointing fingers at one another and I wondered aloud if we could solve this matter with a little common sense.
I now believe we can encapsulate all we do into these 3 major categories:
Common scents
Common cents
Common sense
First of all, I think there’s a major shortage of common sense.
I’m amazed that so many people actually find their way to work and back home again each day. Uncommon sense seems rampant.
How can something like common sense wind up on the endangered species list? Has it always been this way?
Don McLean said the day Buddy Holly died was the day the music died. Was there a watershed moment when common sense passed away?
I think we can lay the blame of much of our lack of common sense at the feet of the new media. It’s given the dolts of the world a platform on which to share their activities.
“Let’s eat Tide detergent pods!”
Common sense? I’d say not.
Could be a common scent issue because they do make things smell better. But, those pods cost more than that outhouse-sized box of Tide my mom used to buy when we were kids.
Common cents.
We never were tempted to eat it even thought the box was bright and colorful. Probably some common sense.
Then, there’s the Netflix movie “Bird Box” which inspired the “Bird Box Challenge.” The movie with Sandra Bullock has characters trying to avoid an invisible evil entity that causes hallucinations. Characters avoid this bad “thing” by blind-folding themselves.
The “Bid Box Challenge” evolved and resulted in people attempting tasks such as driving — while blind-folded.
While the actual movie was a common cents matter for Netflix, some movie viewers seemed to forget this was a movie. News flash!
Common sense.
The other issue is 24-hour news services. I’ve worked at news for many years and truly believe actual news doesn’t happen 24 hours a day. “Fresh” or “different” isn’t news.
I believe that in many cases, news is the exception to the norm. Most of us work hard, care for each other and do the right things. However, in the quest to fill a 24-hour news service, we hear about the exceptions to the norm more than we ever used to. Therefore, we start to think the zookeepers have left and the animals have taken over.
But, common cents comes into play because networks wouldn’t be doing it if they weren’t making money. And, much of this coverage stinks, so it might also be a common scents matter.
What about cellphones? We’ve been convinced that we need constant contact with everyone. The cellphone people have convinced us of that.
Common cents for them.
By the way, cellphones are getting bigger. My son-in-law said I looked like Coco the gorilla pounding on my cellphone screen with my large, fleshy digits. So wife Neav bought us new units that have about 18 square inches of surface.
Why have they gotten bigger? Consumers wanted their phones to do more.
Common cents.
About three times a week, my wife advises me that I left my cellphone on the kitchen counter. That’s because it won’t fit into my pocket.
You know what’s going to happen? Someone’s going to design a cellphone with a shoulder strap. My problem would be solved.
Common sense and common cents.
Then someone will suggest a phone unit that sits somewhere in a common location of your home.
Common cents for the phone companies.
“Don’t worry about lugging that phone with you, distracting you while driving or clogging up your purse”.
The more things change, the more they stay the same, right?
Common sense.
Frankly, I think the whole thing stinks.
Common scents.
John Foster anchors ‘All-News-in-the-Morning’ weekdays on 1010 WCSI-AM and 98.1 FM. You can read his weekly blog at johnnyonthespot1950.com and monthly in The Republic.
