Month: July 2020

Common Sense

Posted on by Robert Eck

In an old movie, “The Bells of St Mary’s,” a struggling grade school student had written an essay, with a little help from the Pastor, Father O’Malley (Bing Crosby) entitled: “The Six Senses.”  Everyone knows the five senses: sight, sound, smell, touch and taste, and may believe the sixth sense may be some form of ESP, but the movie essay identifies the sixth sense as “common sense” — a sense that is scarcely used in today’s world, as well as in earlier times:

—  “Common sense is not so common.”  Voltaire (1694—1778), a French philosopher.

Good ole “common sense” seems to have taken a back seat in this computer driven world in which we live.  If we do not know how to do something, we Goggle: “How to _______?” and we get a ready answer, whether correct or not, without the need for using our own ingenuity to work it out by trial and error to solve the problem.  Just what is common sense?  Lets take a common short cut, and access the computer through Google to find out:

— “Common sense is good sense and sound judgment in practical matters.”  (dictionary.com) 

— “When unsure how to solve a problem, use your common sense.” 
Catherine Pulsifer (1946—2013, an emergency room nurse and author of several books on inspirational words of wisdom. 

— Common sense is the knack of seeing things as they are, and doing things as they ought to be done.  Josh Billings (1818—1885), American humorist.  

—  “All truth, in the long run, is only common sense clarified.  Thomas H Huxley (1825—1895)

—  “Seek advice, but use your own common sense.” (Yiddish proverb)

In 1776, Thomas Paine (1737—1809) wrote a most influential pamphlet, entitled “Common Sense,” which challenged the authority of the British monarch and used plain language to openly seek for freedom from Great Britain to create a democratic republic.  It rallied the people to revolt against the English monarchy, leading to the founding of our country.  Common sense seemed to work back then. 

At this point, my common sense tells me that it is time to end this post.    

What Time Is It?

Posted on by Robert Eck

Hickory Dickery Dock. 
The mouse ran up the clock.  
The clock struck one.  
The mouse ran down.  
Hickory Dickory Dock.

Question:  Why did the mouse run up the clock?  

Nursery rhymes form part of English literature, and often contain hidden meanings.  To answer the question, we should search for other clues in literature.

The opening line of “1984” by George Orwell (1903—1950) recites:  “it was a bright cold day in [October] and the clocks were striking thirteen.”  Isn’t that one o’clock?  Orwell also wrote “Animal Farm,” which featured animals as the characters, presumably including mice.  It does not make a lot of sense, but Orwell did not make much sense either with some of his expressions:  ‘War is peace,” Freedom is slavery.”  ‘ignorance is strength.”  Obviously, sometimes we need to make sense out of nonsense.  Just imagine how confused that mouse must have been.  

Perhaps another Literature clue may come from “Alice in Wonderland” by Lewis Carroll (1832—1898) when the white rabbit was running through the field, consulting a big pocket watch from his waistcoat, exclaiming:  “ I’m late!  I’m late! I’m late for an important date.”  Could it have been a date with a mouse at one o’clock?  Maybe, but on the other hand, the white rabbit could have been just as mad as the Hatter.

James Whitcomb Riley (1849—1916) wrote:  “When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder’s in the shock, O it sets my heart a-clickin’ like the tickin’ of a clock.”  Except for the “gobble” of the turkey-cock, “clackin’ of the guineys,” and the “clackin of the hens,” we find no evidence of mice, but they must have been somewhere near the fodder while the clock was tickin.’  No help here. 

Eugene Field (1850—1895) in his poem “The Duel” wrote: “T’was half past twelve”, when the “Old Dutch Clock … up with its hands before its face” witnessed a duel between the gingham dog and the calico cat.  Note the time — a few minutes before one o’clock, but I expect any self respecting mouse would have been in hiding with the calico cat lurking around.  

After all this clock tickin’ analysis, we can only speculate on the answer.  The truth be known:  no one knows nor cares why that mouse ran up the clock.