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Uncommon Sense

When I was much younger and more impatient with the world, I had difficulties dealing with people who did 'stupid things'.  Such as :

- not releasing an important report because it was incomplete (what was incomplete was a minor detail, such as page numbers). As a result, the report missed its deadline.

- not answering a question, even though he knew the answer because 'it wasn't his job'.

- teachers inconveniencing students about attendance at certain school activities because they cannot make sensible judgments of their own.  E.g. A school I won't mention set a date for all students to come and update their clubs and societies' files and reports.  So a student who had already completed his work asked to be excused from that particular activity.  The teacher demanded that he attend school that day as 'arahan sudah keluar' (instructions have been issued).  So the student asked what was he to do since he had already finished his work.  The teacher told him to just sit in the room.  Does this sound sensible???

Once I complained long and loud to my dad (one of my mentors in life), he just smiled and said,"It's because they lack uncommon sense."  That silenced me.

But WHY is common sense so uncommon? Why can't people just use their heads?  Sometimes some people are so wrapped up in doing things within their own little boundaries that they refuse to be bothered with other things.

I'm older now and more patient (at least I like to think so) but dealing with instances such as people with no common sense is still FRUSTRATING...

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