Uncommon sense

I sometimes wonder whether some people live their entire lives without a logical thought ever entering their minds.

In fact, for many people of this type, logic as a concept is as foreign as a vending machine on the moon. I listen to the conversation of my 13 year old daughter and often find blatant contradictions following each other, sentence after sentence. Attempting to correct her or point out the incongruence of her talk is entirely futile. It seems that the problem is not just that she has flawed logic, but rather that she doesn't seem to understand the concept.

Perhaps it is because she is more emotionally driven than intellectually oriented. I know for a fact that it is not that she is unintelligent, for she has an above average IQ, nor is the problem one of environment, for we often discuss a wide variety of things in the family setting and my wife and I are constantly trying to instill in her the importance of thinking properly.

Certainly there may be personality differences, maybe characteristics passed down from previous generations, partially a corruption from the peer environment and certainly the pervasive mangling of our language with SMS talk, but I suspect there is another contributing factor.

I think very few people naturally and instinctively think with strict logic, and it's certainly something that can be vastly improved with the right teaching and a disciplined use of language. This leads me to a thing that I have suspected for some time now. Students are not taught how to think properly in school. Even the scientific method seems to be poorly taught.
By this I mean the concept of gathering accurate facts, taking into consideration various assumptions, applying logical thought and argument to this information (perhaps using proven laws or formulae) and then constructing to a rational conclusion.

Many years ago I believe a subject was taught in schools called "Logic". I am not sure when this was removed from the curriculum, (certainly I was never taught this subject in school), but I feel it is a loss that is greatly to be lamented.

This is the oldest book I own and was printed in 1883

The key ability to form rational and coherent sentences that convey accurate communication is absolutely essential for even daily survival in life (assuming one has to actually have contact with people daily which is usually the case for most people). Every day we have to convince people in our lives of certain things in order for them to see our point of view or to sway them in their decisions that affect us. For instance a child might want to convince a parent that they are responsible enough to catch a train on their own, or to go see a live band. A worker might need to convince his or her boss to give them a pay-rise, a mother might need to convince her daughter of the importance of modest dress, and a wife might need to convince her husband of the necessity of mowing the lawn. In order to be successful in each of these endeavours, one must be able to sway a person's opinion by the use of rational argument.

From another perspective, logic is valuable in helping us make decisions in our lives. If we can weigh up all of the possibilities logically then we are far better equipped to make the right decision. From decisions as fundamental as choosing the right clothing to suit each particular day, to complex decisions such as choosing a place to live, which might depend on issues such as proximity to shops, schools, transport and other facilities, quality of the neighbour's and the environment, size of dwelling, aspect and design, we discover that clear-minded logically thinking is invaluable in coming to an appropriate conclusion.

I suspect many people are ill-equipped to make many decisions based on logic and so their decisions are fundamentally emotional and often illogical in their nature. I think this is what we mean when we say someone does not have common-sense. Unfortunately I think this term is a misnomer. Common sense is anything but common, and it seems to be becoming less and less common, and young people are suffering from educational neglect in this respect. Meanwhile they absorb the bankrupt philosophies of modern thought.

Surely things will not improve until we begin to make common-sense live up to its name by becoming common again.

Motoring and Tolerance.

Saturdays are terrible for driving.

There are a number of reasons for this, not the least of which is the fact that inexperienced drivers flock to the roads on weekends. Whether they are public transport commuters exercising their once-a-week motoring freedom, learner drivers on their weekly lesson, or certain elderly motorists (clearly past their automotive prime) who find themselves in the thick of traffic like a deer stunned by a cars headlight, the overall effect is the same: motoring mayhem.

Now don't get me wrong, I don't believe all old people are bad drivers, or that all learners are bad drivers, its just a fact that some of them are, and the ones that are, all seem to drive near me. My wife tells me that I am not tolerant enough and that I need to learn more patience, and I suppose that is true for the most part, but occasionally I come across a driver that seems to go beyond the call of duty specified in the "Idiots Guide to Stupid Driving Practices".

Like yesterday. I was travelling along a main road (a highway in fact) at the designated speed of 70km/h, when a driver decides to exit from a petrol station just in front of me. I know they saw me coming because our eyes made contact. I saw this person actually looking at me as they drove directly in front of me and proceeded to drive at about 30km/h. I had to take evasive action and I fortunately changed lanes in time to avoid an accident.
Strangely I wasn't particularly angry about this, but these sort of moments (that happen much more frequently on Saturdays) lead me to hold a grave concern for the safety of fellow motorists on our roads.

Whenever I wonder why a particular person is acting with what I consider to be common-sense-challenged behaviour I have two thoughts pop into my mind. One of them appears almost instantaneously, and the other slowly oozes into my consciousness. The first thought is, of course, a dumbfounded wonderment at the stupidity of some people. The second thought is that the roads really are an amplification environment for the single-minded selfishness and imbecility of mankind. Perhaps for the violent-tempered, arrogant-minded people of our world also.

Sometimes I find myself yelling at another driver (within the confines of my own car) with derisive contempt, only to realise how foolish I was only moments later. In this way I am the worst me when I am behind the wheel and I am confronted with foolish driving. I rarely speak this way when I am not isolated inside my transportation capsule, and I always regret it later. I do however refrain from yelling obscenities out the window or even worse, exiting my vehicle to abuse a fellow motorist. Both I have seen happen on a number of occasions.

Today though I was merely frustrated. Being caught in a traffic jam is bad enough. What is worse though, is escaping a traffic jam, only to find yourself in another one just as bad. This I did twice in rather quick succession, and each time I detoured further off my intended path. My purpose was to avoid the deathly crawl of the "funeral procession" that was building up to pay congested homage to the poor victim up ahead. You see, there was a fatality further up the road (this I discovered later) and all northbound traffic had all but ground to a halt.
Oblivious to the reason, I managed to skirt around the worst of the traffic, and with an air of self-congratulatory satisfaction I made my intended destination only some 15 minutes later than expected. I had expelled all gloomy thoughts of the traffic jam until I returned home two and a half hours later. The traffic was clear in my direction southbound, but northbound it was worse than ever. Then I noticed the fatality and the Accident Investigation Squad, and the car-packed multiple lanes of vehicles moving at a snails pace through the single lane detour.

I felt very sorry for each and every one of the occupants of those vehicles, though also feeling exceptionally glad that I was not one of them. The reality is that sometimes these events are unavoidable in our imperfect world and we perhaps should learn two things. First that there is always someone in a worse situation than us (namely the deceased and their family in this case) and secondly that our behaviour in these circumstances (especially the amplified environment inside the four wheeled road rage device) is an indication of our true character. If our behaviour doesn't meet the necessary standard then our character needs work.

But why have we become such modified creatures when inside a motor vehicle, and especially behind the wheel.

The reason is that we have become a much more selfish people in every environment of our modern world. We expect instant gratification in all areas of life, especially with respect to satisfying our physical and emotional needs, and we are constantly encouraged to demand our rights and equality at all times.
And this transfers over to our roads as inconsiderate attitudes (whether directly intentional or not), and purblind lack of awareness of other motorists.

Behaviour on our roads will therefore not change unless the attitudes of the driver, (apart from being a driver), are changed, beginning with you and I. How we go about this attitudinal modification will have to wait for another blog and another day.

Child's Play

Watching my 11 year old daughter play soccer is always an interesting event.

Whether it be the shrieking cries of desperate and nervous parents urging their children to tackle harder, kick further, or run faster, or whether it is the hoarse vocal utterings of the coach that fill the air, nevertheless the children continue seemingly oblivious to the maniacal shouts of frustration from outside the bounds of the field.

I often wonder about how much the children hear while they concentrate intently on their game. I asked my daughter once, and she replied that she just blocks it all out and gets on with the game. Occasionally she will hear the coaches instruction, but naught else. Which is probably the best thing to do really. In the thick of battle there is nothing worse than having several people tell you what to do at the same time.

In the end the kids manage to do their best, and it leaves me wondering whether we are wasting our breath. As I listened to one of the men behind me (moments after screaming, whooping and squealing like a girl), say "I promised I would keep quiet from the sidelines today ... oh well", I considered that some people get so caught up in the emotion, that they cannot help but vocalise an exuberance beyond what we might consider sane.

One thing I do know, is that there is not many things better than seeing the beaming joyous smile on a child's face when they successfully perform a skillful maneuver, and are given praise from the sideline. They seem to become so proud and euphoric that they almost forget they are in the middle of a game, sometimes even as the ball goes flying past their wondrous face.

Other times something can happen on the field that a child does not expect, and this can have a similar effect. One little girl attempted to head an airborne ball, only to be nearly kicked in the face by an opposition player. The look on her face was of mixed terror and amazement, while she had stopped her dead in her tracks, and looked straight to the sidelines as if to say "WOW, did you see that! How close was that kick to my head but it missed!". She was not scared or upset, but rather she was utterly amazed.

Meanwhile, the play continued and the opponent raced off with the ball leaving her standing with a smiling, but dumbfounded expression.

The match was a tough one for my daughters team, but they managed to scrape through to a victory. The teams both gave their cheers, and children shook hands, and began to leave the field.

Then something caught my eye. Far off to the left of the field, apart from all the other players, was a child from the opposition's team lying on the ground. But he was not still. He was clearly rolling on the ground. Curiously though, he did not seem to be in pain, and as I watched him for a few moments longer I realised what was happening.

In a moment of sheer absent-mindedness he had promptly dumped himself on the ground, legs straight and arms outstretched above his head, and began to roll. I watched as he rolled probably twenty or thirty times. He didn't care that his team had just lost. He was not interested in a post-match debrief from the coach, nor his parents remarks at this moment. He simply wanted to roll. He probably did so for the smell of the grass, or the sense of nearness to nature that comes when in such close contact to the ground, or perhaps it was the feeling of happy giddiness of continual bodily rotation, or even the repeated alternating views of the sky - grass - sky - grass. It may have been one of these reasons or a combination of them, and perhaps he could not tell me why he did it, but watching him, I think I know.

I think it was simply for the joy of it. He had not lost his awesome sense of wonder of the world, and he did not care what anyone thought, and chose to express this sheer joy in one of the best ways he knew how; throw yourself to the ground and roll, roll, roll!

I think of how jaded we can become in this world, and sometimes it just takes a moment of observation of an absent-minded child at play to remind us of that joy and wonder that it is to live in God's creation.