I’ve heard a lot of talk about “common sense” safety. Essentially, it is the belief that safety is achieved by taking common sense precautions. Without question, common sense helps keep me safe in certain circumstances.

A seatbelt keeps me from flying through the windshield in a crash. Cages at the zoo keep me from getting mauled by carnivores. Common sense tells me not to hand a Samurai sword to a toddler. So I agree, wholeheartedly, in the power of “common sense” safety.

Sometimes…

The problem we have in this country is too many people think “common sense” safety can be applied to EVERY dangerous thing. Many of the “reasonable precautions” I’m urged to take are unreasonable, ineffective, and somewhat dangerous themselves.

For example, it is certain that you will get sick from time to time. Common sense tells you to drink water, get plenty of rest, take vitamins and build your immune system so that you’ll get sick less often. But no matter how you live, eventually, you’re going to come down with a bug.

Prior to the year 2020, we understood that sickness happens. During the last couple of years, we have come to believe that “common sense” safety precautions will keep us perpetually healthy. We’re so certain of this, we villainize the people who don’t follow every recommendation made by the “experts.” The result is that we blame others for “making us sick” even if those people don’t live near us.

Common sense tells you to strap on a parachute when you jump out of an airplane because parachutes have proven effective at preventing high velocity impact with the ground. When you learn that vaccines are not effective at preventing the spread of COVID, what does your common sense tell you?

“When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.”

– 1 Corinthians 2:1