postulate

\PAHSS-chuh-layt\

verb

1 : demand, claim

2 a : to assume or claim as true, existent, or necessary b : to assume as an established truth (as in logic or mathematics)

one of my grandest POSTULATIONS is the notion of common sense. i still believe (although this belief is fading) that there is some essence of common sense out in the universe, and that some people just tap into that essence more than others. this assumption is compounded by the fact that i often associate with like-minded people who would generally agree with me on what "common sense" means.

i guess this conversation demands my definition of common sense. i suppose i would define common sense as an even mix of the logical, the rational, and the decent. don't leave a sharp knife in a blind, soapy sink. that kind of thing.

but this is complicated. i am confronted on a daily basis with DOZENS of people who do not possess this kind of reasoning. this forces me to question the commonality of this notion. can it actually be called common sense if it seems totally rare? should we just call it sense? should we call it extraordinary sense?

these are questions i ask myself all day at work, when i discover a recklessly abandoned slice of cake shoved on the shelf of cocktail olives halfway across the store, when i see a consumer standing around watching passively while a cashier bags their $200 worth of groceries and a line of seven people waits patiently behind them, when someone doesn't want to bother to look for the trash barrel which is ten feet away so they instead deposit their dirty napkin on a table in between two stacks of apple pies.

why?

i just went to go see Bill Hicks' Sane Man last night. he is still my hero. R.I.P.