Category: Life

Life, Safe Driving

Common Sense

Anthony Dixon

Common Sense

Taking into consideration that nothing is Built to withstand the test of time like the Pyramids or Gothic Architecture,or even a 1967 Buick Skylark. That car was Built to withstand a collision At fifty five with minimal framework damage. Today’s Automobile with the same Collision amounts to totalling the Vehicle, sending it to the Junkyard. Not to mention Bodily injuries or deaths. With that said as far as I am concerned once you get behind the wheel common sense outweighs everything and is far more important than the Seatbelts, or antilock brakes. It even override great Driving Skills.The best Highway Safety Blog don’t emphasize the great need for exercising good Judgement / common sense.

Defined!

good sense and sound judgment in practical matters.

“a common-sense approach”

synonyms:good sense, sense, sensibleness, native wit, native intelligence, mother wit, wit, judgment, sound judgment, level-headedness, prudence, discernment, acumen, sharpness, sharp-wittedness, canniness, astuteness, shrewdness, judiciousness, wisdom, insight, intuition, intuitiveness, perceptiveness, perspicacity, vision, understanding, intelligence, reason, powers of reasoning;

This Blog was spawned from my Commute home last night. Twelve O’clock at night, mostly produce Drunks making their way home or Commuters who work evenings, especially on weekdays. Two cars travelling on a deserted roadway, I’m following, usually I’m the lead car. The reason for me always leading is because sad to say I don’t trust my fellow Drivers to do the right thing. So I usually travel ten MPH Over the speed limit to avoid clutter. Not following my driving habit of leading, he took me to the stop light slowly enough for me to miss the Light. At the intersection one car made the right turn, now there are three of us on this deserted Road. When the Light changed I proceeded to the next light where I found them both positioned side by side on a two lane road. Now I was stuck behind two Drones travelling side by side at the same speed. It totally behooves me why people don’t understand that traffic needs to be staggered, whether twelve at night or rush hour.

Fifty feet from the next light the Drone who made the right turn decided or realized that he needs to be in the left lane to make his left turn. After travelling mindlessly for a half a mile in the right lane, it never occurred to him that he could speed up in front of the one on a joyride at 12 am, or just slow down and and fall behind, knowing that his turn was coming up. Instead he forced me to break hard to let him in, almost causing an Accident at 12 am with three cars on a deserted Road. Did I mention that Common Sense rules Education, Common Sense is calculated Logic. Sad to say the average Person does not possess it.

Harry was smart all his Life, Breezed through School like the rest of us were Idiots. When he grew up he became an Educator, he was smart enough to be a Professor, yet when it came to Driving he was dumber than a Bunch of Rocks, zero common sense. Harry only Drove top of the Line Performance Cars, and Crashed every last one, sometimes causing Bodily injuries. His last Accident was Monumental. How he Lived was all up to God, he never mentioned the other people involved, or whether it was his fault, however his Track Record tells us who caused the Accident. There are Millions of Harry’s on our Roadways, devoid of common sense. They drift through time and space until their number is up, taking good Drivers who uses common sense with them.

Getting back to East Lake Road, the deserted two lane country Road four months ago almost the same scenario of me following lead cars late at night just about sightseeing. There was a Pick up Truck slowing down the traffic flow. Just about the time I decided to leave the left lane and pass on the right. The Truck slowing down the traffic abruptly leaves the lane, he moved into the right lane and kept going right off  Road. The Truck rolled four times. Being a good Motorist I pulled off the Road and ran to their aid. When I got to the Truck I smelled Gas, I immediately asked the Man and the Woman who crawled from the wreck if everyone was out of the Vehicle. It was that moment the Woman scampered back into the upside down Vehicle and handed me a Car Seat containing an Infant.

So you don’t exercise common sense for your own safety, what about your Passengers. Whenever I come upon an Accident scene I always try to reconstruct the situation that developed prior to the Accident. It appears that the couple were fighting and she delivered a surprise punch to the Driver, while her Infant child almost become the Victim of her lack of common sense. When I am a Passenger, I assume the role of Co pilot and Navigator and do my very best not to distract the Driver, that’s what Common Sense is all about. Whatever the Driver is doing that can cause distractions it is for you to assist them, such as reading the G.P.S. or pouring Coffee from the Thermos. For you the Driver, exercising good Judgement far outweighs having the skills of a Jedi Pilot, any day of the week.

I know that I am always using graphic Details and Languages in my safe Driving Blogs. However there is a reason for that, my English Literature Teacher told me that a Writer that doesn’t stir Emotions or create reactions,  is wasting his time and yours, also his opinion isn’t worth the paper written on. So here is one more effort to stir your emotions and make you react to me challenging you to use common sense when you are on our Roadways. Three years ago in my Neighborhood on one of the busiest Roads at four PM, a young Mother with her three years old and an Infant in a Stroller decided to cross in the middle of the Block. Common Sense would command the use of the Crosswalk, knowing that you can run only so fast pushing a Stroller, trying to avoid someone on the Cellphone with the gas pedal burried. The outcome was devastating, the Infant lost it’s Life, Mother and Son Scarred for Life. The Driver left no Skid marks. The Driver was not Charged because no one reported seeing him on the Cellphone seconds before the Accident. Using the Cellphone while you are  behind the Wheel is one of the Biggest of Buffoonery, which a lot of so-called smart People do everyday. Common Sense, either you have it or you don’t. The lack of it is equivalent to diving in a Swimming Pool not knowing the Depth.

Life, Parenting And Relationships

Taking Control

Anthony Dixon

Taking Control

Working in a Justice System has been a true revaluation for me, of the importance of good Parenting. The other day I was sitting in the parking Lot, directly across the Street was a sprawling Building. This Building was the Juvenile Detention Center. While sitting there looking at the tiny Windows, I wondered to myself how old was its youngest Resident. I also wondered if by the time he made it back home would he have been rehabilitated or at least seen the Light or the evil of his way. It was then that it occurred to me the importance of good Parenting. The importance of bending the Twig before it grows into a thorny Tree is of Tantamount Effect. Junior was only eighteen Months old when he decided to test his will and witts against mine.

Sitting in his Highchair throwing a Fit, he tossed his spoon on the Floor several times. Unwittingly I picked it up each time, washed it and put it in the Bowl. After several times of repeating this game I removed him from his Highchair and placed him on the Floor next to the discarded Spoon. This was his first lesson that he wasn’t going to have things his way all the time. By you picking up that Spoon for the twentieth time, controlling and manipulation is now one of his Trait that could lead him to the Detention Center. They come here from every socio economic structure imaginable. I remember when I started Blogging one of my Boss asked me what I Blogged about. I told him among many things, problematic Teens were one of my main interest. He visited my Website and browse some of the Articles. The next day he saw me he congratulated me on my insights. He told me that he had a Teenager at home that was heading down the wrong Road. This guy was the Director of Marketing for a Company that made over one Hundred Million that year. I am quite certain that he was properly compensated. His kid had no reason to be a Rebel without a Clue, yet he was. Two years later I am now working in the County Justice System and here was my ex Boss making an appearance with his Kid.

As I mentioned earlier, they come from all walks of Life many times it starts with dropping the Spoon, by you not laying early ground rules, setting Boundaries and limitations. You are not preparing them for Society. Society is a Tangled weave of Laws, you can get arrested for spitting on the Ground, so what of the other thousand of infractions. If they can’t or won’t abide by your Rules what makes you think that they will abide by the Laws of our Legal System. My Mother was a hard working Christian Woman, yet at fourteen I Dreamed of being a Thug. I was only fourteen when she found an ounce of high grade Marijuana in my Pocket while doing the Laundry.

She gave me the option of a Cot in a Juvenile Detention Center or changing the Road I was Traveling. That tough Love navigated the rest of my Life. With one Arrest and conviction I could not be Working in the Justice System. When my Mother was laying down the Laws, how was I supposed to know that she was looking out for my future. As a Parent by you not laying down laws and rules while you are still in control you are paving the way for future court appearances, and Jail time. Your Kid may be the smartest and most talented kid in the World, If you don’t teach them Humility and let them know that there are Boundaries and consequences in Life. Society will chew them up and spit them out in the Justice Systems. Look at O.J, look at Arron Hernandez, he made it to the top of his Game along the way his Parents never told him that he could not get away with Murder. A wise Man once wrote ” it is better to build Boys than to mend  Men”

Here are excerpts from the Book Parenting Teens with Love and Logic.

Who’s in Charge Here?

For years, Ryan had appeared headed for a life of irresponsibility. He lived like a slob and had increasingly resisted his Parent’s badgering about his sloppy appearance, grungy clothes, messy room and that”infernal music” thudding through the walls. At thirteen Ryan simply”forgot” to do his chores. The older he grew, the more defiant he became. At seventeen, he started drinking even on school nights and experimenting with drugs, both of which were murder on his grades. He went out with girls running with the wrong Crowd, such as Desiree, telling his Dad, “she comes from a broken home and needs me as a counselor”, prompting his Dad to counter sarcastically, ” Just what kind of counseling techniques are you using”.

Ryan had long since blown off the hallowed family tradition of kissing his parents good-night. Now they were lucky if he just yelled through their master bedroom door, “I’am home. Allan responded to Ryan’s moral slide by losing his temper and yelling. Or “you have the social traits of a bum!” Sandy would mutter aloud, “I know this is a Kid I wouldn’t take off the shelf myself”. Ryan, of course, just sneered. He had his Parents emotionally eating out of his hand, and he knew it. They knew it too. But they felt helpless to reassert control. Then Alan and Sandy attended a seminar that introduced them to the Love and Logic parenting approach. They learned that parents should take care of themselves first, let their children own their own problems, and allow them to live with the consequences of their decisions.

P.S.  It is better to take control as early as possible than waiting till they are heading for the Detention Center.