Nonsense and Insensibilities

Phua Chu Kang immortalized the saying, "Use your blian (brain)". Although it might be redundant to say, its amazing how little people exercise their brains or bother to really use it. The brain in a muscle, at least that's what Michelle Pieffer in "Dangerous Minds" claims. And like any other muscle, you need to exercise it to strengthen it. While I might not totally agree with her, I must say that some people have atrophied brains.

at·ro·phy Pronunciation Key (tr-f)
n. pl. at·ro·phies

1. Pathology. A wasting or decrease in size of a body organ, tissue, or part owing to disease, injury, or lack of use: muscular atrophy of a person affected with paralysis.
2. A wasting away, deterioration, or diminution: intellectual atrophy.

v. at·ro·phied, at·ro·phy·ing, at·ro·phies
v. tr.

To cause to wither or deteriorate; affect with atrophy.

v. intr.

To waste away; wither or deteriorate.

The readily available common sense somehow does not seem to be so common after all. If natural selection was a process that really determines the survival of the human race, one would really have to wonder, why humans are still around. Evolution indeed!

I was driving my usual route this morning, off to do my usual errands before work. I usually take the ECP to work and there, Lo and Behold, was a man standing by the side of the road waiting to cross. Mind you, this is the morning traffic that we were talking about. Not to mention that it is dangerous and can prove to be fatal if your feet were a tad slower than your brain when dashing across the road. Guess that is strike one for uncommon sense already. There was a bridge Further down the road, less than 50m, which he could take to cross the road. Strike 2 for uncommon sense.

I must confess, however, that all of us are like that. Brainless even when we meet obvious face to face. It sometimes feel like cataracts, not that I have them (not that old yet), and that blinds us to the common wisdom that human beings should have. After all, we do rule the Earth right? Its our selfisness and thoughtlessness, and the list goes on, that really jeopardizes our continued existence. Sin... the bane of mankind.