Uncommon Sense...

One morning a farmer who was sitting on his rocking chair on his front porch was surprised by an unexpected visitor who introduced himself as a government agent and announced that he was there on government business to search the property for illicit goods. The farmer responded in as nonchalant a manner as he could muster that the agent was welcome to make himself at home, but advised him against going into the barn. This idea incensed the agent who realized that this old timer had no clue who exactly he was dealing with and cut him off from finishing his sentence. He whipped out a badge from his inside coat pocket and said to the farmer - “You see this badge? This badge means I can go anywhere I damn well please, on government business, east, west, north or south, and nothing and nobody can tell me otherwise, got it?” To which the farmer replied “Suit yourself.” A little while later, after searching through the rest of the property the agent made his way over to the barn while the farmer sat on his rocker watching intently. The agent opened the big door and walked in, and within seconds was seen running back out at full speed with a three ton bull bearing angrily down on him. As they ran past the still sitting farmer the farmer shouted to the agent - “Show him your badge!!!” Sometimes it pays to listen more than you talk regardless of who you are, just in case there's more important information out there for you.

Arrogance aside, another reason many people find themselves in trouble is because of laziness. All of the people who died after the Titanic sank died from laziness, from abdicating their responsibility, by putting too much faith in other people who eventually let them down. Those responsible for designing the unsinkable ship but forgot to equip it with sufficient lifeboats in case it, in fact, sank, the seamen who were supposed to be on watch, scanning the horizons for anything that could be of concern, even those who were in charge of the evacuation and the assignment of the limited life boats all collectively let them down, but none more so than they themselves. They were supposed to ask questions. There is an old Arabic saying that translates 'Trust in Allah but tie your camel.' At the end of the day we are all ultimately responsible for our own safety and survival as there comes a point where response after the fact becomes moot.

We've all been told before that if something sounds too good to be true it probably is, or that a fool and his money are soon parted simply if one is foolish enough to begin with. There's a reason these sayings have stood the test of time, because nothing in the multiples of millennia has changed man's nature. One cannot escape the  bonds of responsibility that we are all bound by, the simple non-negotiable law of survival. It was the rule in the caveman's day as it is now, that the individual is duty bound to remain both aware and informed if he wants to survive. Here is a perfectly good example of information that might have affected people's actions were they aware of it before - According to the Kamasutra the word 'Congress' refers to the  physical act of sexual intercourse, whereas  the word 'unite' means - 'to come or bring together for a common purpose or action.' This then shines a whole new light on the meanings of the names of the United National Congress and the Congress of the People, with the United National Congress literally translating to 'people gathered together for the purpose of fornicating the nation,' with the Congress of the People translating to 'the fornication of the people.'

Hindsight may be twenty twenty and there's nothing like that eureka moment to put things in perspective, but neither party can be faulted for living up to the espoused intentions as clearly articulated in their names, with the greatest irony being how up front they were about it all along.