Sunday, April 15, 2007

OBITUARY


MR. COMMON SENSE

Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Mr. Common Sense, who has been with us for many years. No one knew for sure how old he was, since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape.

He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable
lessons as:
knowing when to come in out of the rain; why the early bird gets the worm; appreciating that Life isn't always fair; and accepting that Maybe it was my fault.

Mr. Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don't spend more than you can earn) and reliable strategies (adults, not children, are in charge).

His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well-intentioned, but overbearing, regulations were set in place: Reports of a 6 year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; teenager suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch; and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student.

His condition worsened and Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job that they themselves had failed to do in disciplining their unruly children.

It declined even further when schools were required to get Parental consent to administer Paracetemol, Sun lotion or a Band-aid to a student; but could not inform parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion.

Common Sense lost the will to live as the Ten Commandments became contraband; churches became businesses; and criminals received better treatment than their victims.

Common Sense took a beating when you couldn't defend yourself from a burglar in your own home and the burglar could sue for assault.

Common Sense finally gave up the will to live, after a woman failed to realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She spilled a little in her lap, and was promptly awarded a huge financial settlement.

Common Sense was preceded in death by his parents, Truth and Trust; his wife, Discretion; his daughter, Responsibility; and his son, Reason. He is survived by his 3 stepbrothers; I Know My Rights, Someone Else Is To Blame, and I'm A Victim.

His funeral had few mourners because his passing largely went un-noticed.


Original by Allen Jesson
See his Blog: thoughts and musings

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Several months ago, I had to mourn the passing of an excellent old friend of mine and wore a black armband to school for a week. Nobody noticed. If someone had asked me what the armband was for, I would have them I was mourning the passing away of the Sense of Humour. Or maybe that's just in my school, where Common Sense was snatched by the Grim Reaper long before that!

Allen Jesson said...

HI - I think it is grossly unfair that you've have chosen to display my post without the full author's tag, including a link to my site. In fact, it is against the terms and conditions of the article directory where you pinched it from. Please address. Thanks, Allen

David Weeks said...

Thank you for even reading my blog!

My sincere apologies for not putting a link to you or your site. This I have now done.

What happened was I received your piece via one of those e-mails that get forwarded ad-nauseam as being, "isn't this fun, send it to all your friends" except that this time I thought the piece genuinely witty and to the point, and worthy of a wider audience.

As I did not lift it direct from your site and indeed, until now, was unaware that you were out there, with your own site, that certainly deserves a visit, please tell me which of your four blogs should I add, as a link.

David Weeks said...

Now sorted