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Lately, it seems like people are so angry that they’ve lost their common sense. I’ve been that angry, and it almost cost me my life.
When I was in college, I had several side hustles in addition to my regular jobs, one of which was valet parking. The family of a high school friend owned a valet parking business, and whenever I needed to make a few extra bucks, I would phone him to see if he needed to fill any shifts. He usually did, as they provided the valet parking service for several Atlanta restaurants. It was on one of those occasions that my common sense kicked in just in time to save me from serious injury or worse.
Discos Attracted Baby Boomers Like Moths to a Flame
It was the late 1970s—the Disco Era—and many restaurants in Atlanta converted their bars into discotheques, complete with parquet wooden dance floors, mirror balls, flashing lights, and disc jockeys who would fill the air with the booty-shaking music of KC and the Sunshine Band, Donna Summer, and the Bee Gees. This was all for the swarming hordes of 20- and 30-something Baby Boomers looking to be like John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever.
I picked up a mid-week shift at one of the lesser-known discos, which meant I was working the parking lot alone. The restaurant/discotheque had valet parking only and a cover charge to get inside after 8 p.m. About 50 feet from the front door, there was a tall, freestanding, locked wooden cabinet where I kept the car keys and ticket stubs on numbered hooks inside.
A Western Bar Would’ve Made Common Sense for These Three
I had parked about 50 cars when three men pulled in. When they learned it was valet only, they left, squealing their tires in protest, but I saw them pull into the parking lot of the office building next door, which was up on a hill above the disco. From my station by the front door, I watched them carefully climb down a steep dirt hill into my parking lot and then walk to the door. They were wearing blue jeans and t-shirts, which was not the typical dressy-casual attire worn by the young, upwardly mobile disco-dancing crowd.
When they found out they had to pay a cover charge, they left angrily and cussed loudly as they stormed back toward their car. Then, as they walked past my key cabinet, they stopped and pushed it over onto its face. It hit the ground with a loud crash, and I could hear keys being knocked off their hooks and separated from the numbers which told me where each car was parked.
My Anger Made Me Foolhardy
I was furious; not only did these bullies create more work for me, but if I had to ask the patrons which key was theirs and what kind of car they drove, then I was going to make fewer tips. (It turned out to be much worse—when I asked people to identify their keys and tell the make of their car, they simply grabbed their keys and said, “I can see my car; I’ll just get it myself.” So I ended up working for almost nothing that night.)
I ran over to the cabinet, lifted it up, unlocked the door, and saw that, indeed, most of the keys had come off their hooks. I was so mad that I screamed profanities at the three men, two of whom were scrambling up the dirt hill to their car. The third one turned around and looked at me, so I flipped him off.
My Anger Made Me Feel Powerful
He then started running toward me, very fast. I was so angry and full of adrenaline that I welcomed his advance because I had every intention of punching him so hard that I would knock him out. I planted my feet, balled my fists, and raised my arms in full readiness for combat.
When he was halfway to me, one of his friends noticed what was going on and started running toward me as well. My anger made me feel incredibly powerful and I wanted revenge, so I stood my ground, thinking, “I’ll lay out the first one as soon as he gets here, then take on the second.”
I Wanted Revenge
Suddenly, the third man turned around and started scrambling back down the hill. It was a long parking lot, and it would take him a bit to catch up to his friends, but fortunately, my common sense kicked in.
There were three men running toward me as fast as they could. It only took a fraction of a second, but the logic of the situation made itself apparent to me. If I didn’t lay out the first bully with one punch, then I was going to have to fight two and then three men. If one of them tackled me and got me on the ground, they could all punch and kick me at will, possibly breaking my bones and inflicting fatal internal bleeding.
Logic and Reason Finally Occurred to Me
When the first guy was 10 yards away, I turned around and ran as fast as I could into the building. Fortunately, the bouncer and the manager were standing nearby. I grabbed them both, quickly told them what was going on, and then we walked out the front door and stood three abreast in front of it.
With the odds now equalized, my three aggressors turned around and left. The bouncer and manager stayed outside with me until it was clear that they were not coming back.
Mistakes Aren’t Bad—If You Learn From Them
There is an old saying: “Making good decisions comes from experience; experience comes from making bad decisions.” We acquire that experience from the moment we are born, and cumulatively that creates our common sense. Simple things at first: Don’t touch hot objects; if it smells bad, don’t eat it; blue and yellow make green; don’t take stuff that isn’t yours; play fair; and don’t get into cars with strangers. These gradually advance into competencies like situational awareness, conceptual and creative thinking, emotional control, and social skills. In short, we learn to compare the risks and rewards of a decision before we make it.
We are born with a natural ability—our senses and memory—to judge good from bad and right from wrong. Unfortunately, societal indoctrination is constantly telling us what we should do and how we should do it, and this tends to denigrate common sense over time, turning us into sheep-like followers. The problem is that if we stop thinking critically then we can be manipulated by others.
If something sounds too good to be true... then that’s your common sense working for you. Let it work!
