Not long ago, I saw emblazoned on a pickup truck a bumper sticker that boldly stated, “What we need in government more than ever, is a Department of Common Sense”. Now that’s a political slogan I believe we could all rally around.

Recently I spoke with a friend who is a pastor. When I inquired how he liked the ministry, he said, “I’d really love it if it weren’t for the people.” I laughed. As a man of the cloth myself, I am not discouraged by those individuals who come to me frequently for help. That is part of the job. What literally drives me nuts more than anything is individuals who lack the basics of common sense.

I had a recent stay in the hospital and as anyone who’s ever been a patient, hospitals aren’t the place to find rest. Imagine my dismay the following morning after my release, to receive a call from a well meaning church member at the crack of dawn. Bleary eyed, I listened to them tell me, “I’m praying for you and I hope you get some rest. When they took a breath from their rehearsed blessing I repeated back to them this question, “You woke me up at at 6 am to tell me you want me to rest?” There was a long pause followed by a hasty, “God bless and have a nice day” before the phone clicked dead. I think they had a delayed epiphany.

Some time ago a large family had the idea that they wanted to have a picnic with my wife and me. We told them that would be lovely. Since it was their idea for the get together, imagine our surprise when just prior to the their arrival they called to ask, “Do you want us to bring anything?” To my dieting friends, this is an additional reason why I keep my favorite pizza joint on speed dial.

The story is told of a kindergarten class that went on a field trip to the local police station. It was there that one of the students named Larry saw pictures tacked to a bulletin board of the 10 most wanted criminals.
Raising his hand to ask a question as he was taught, he pointed to one of the menacing pictures of a scary man and asked if it really was a photo of a wanted person.

The policeman said with a lot of enthusiasm,’Yes, and all my detective friends and I want very badly to capture him.’ Little Larry paused for a moment then raising his hand again said, “Well, why didn’t you keep him when you took his picture ?”

I don’t know what the future holds for Larry, but if chooses to run for Congress when he grows up, I’m voting for him.