There is a growing sentiment of "common sense just isn't common anymore." Sadly, not only is that true, but the lack of common sense seems to be spreading.

Common Sense isn't some innate gift that we have as human beings. That is a misconception. Common Sense is the aggregate of everything we were taught by our parents from birth, everything we ever learned in school, everything we ever learned from the media, everything we ever learned from our peers and the practical experience we gathered by either practicing or not practicing the things that had become part of our cumulative and ever-growing knowledge base.

Parents used to be much more hands-on (literally and figuratively) in the raising of their children and passing on what they had learned in their lives and what their parents had taught them. Schooling was much more personal and practical. Television was family oriented and depicted situations that stressed values, morals and the importance of communication within families and among friends. Our peers would share what they had learned from their parents and experiences, promoting a common set of values in neighborhoods and communities. We would observe what was going on around us and make mental notes about people and situations for future reference when we found ourselves in those situations.

Today, children are having children, parents don't have the time to properly raise their children, schools force feed information rather than impart knowledge and critical thinking skills, television churns out dysfunction as normalcy, popularity and bullying has replaced the values of childhood friendship and we walk around oblivious to what is going in the world around us focused just on ourselves and trying to keep ahead of those around us, even stepping on others to gain an advantage.

The cost of all of that is the relinquishing of common sense in society. Without taking action, Common Sense will become reduced to basics like not touching the stove because it is hot and not jumping into the pool with your cell phone (but now that they are starting to make them waterproof, even that will be a sensibility our granchildren will never get taught!).