I remember when I was in the sixth grade and we were all outside for a fire drill. Some kids were running through a puddle, splashing water all over themselves because everyone else was doing it and it was apparently the cool thing to do. Then one of my teacher walked and yelled at them saying, “Common sense tells you to not do that.” The look of disgust at the idiocy of my fellow students was priceless.
Unfortunately, these days I find that just about of those we place in authority lack one of the cardinal virtues: prudence. Prudence is common sense and one who has prudence has the ability to utilize their wisdom and discipline to their fullest extent. As King Solomon wrote in Proverbs 19:25, “Flog a mocker and the simple will learn prudence; rebuke a discerning man, and he will gain knowledge.”
These days our culture has rejected harsh discipline for some strange and incomprehensible reason. Harsh discipline and strict punishments for those who commit crimes have go the wayside and as a result we get repeat offenders more often than rehabilitated, productive members of society. This latest episode with Clemens who killed four police officers should be a chilling reminder of why we should dismantle all parole boards and make criminals serve their full sentences.
But I think it runs much deeper than simply imposing harsh discipline. People need to develop the virtue of prudence otherwise they will see their intelligence and their wisdom go to waste. I asked people what the opposite of an idiot savant was and no one really could give a proper term for it. Somehow, intellectual moron just doesn’t seem to fit with me. But we have to agree that there are plenty of people out there who have an IQ many people would sell their souls for and lack all semblance of prudence. Don’t worry, they usually work in colleges where they do the least amount of harm.
Prudence is one the seven virtues that are opposite the seven vices (or deadly sins). It is not a Biblical virtue, any more than the seven deadly sins are Biblical, but it is pivotal to believers and non-believers alike. Without out, we become subject to the control of others who have it. In essence, we lose our individuality, our sense of self, without it.
A lack of prudence is probably the primary reason for all the insane laws that governments at levels pass in order to protect us from ourselves. How many laws are passed involving fire safety, when this should be common knowledge to everyone? How many laws are passed for driving on the roads, when most car crashes can be avoided by simply driving sensibly?
The fact of the matter is, most people lack prudence in big ways and when they do, they end up voting for Statists. This is because the Statists promise them things that most people would normally not even trust with their own parents. And so a lack of common sense is the primary reason for the expansion of government in our modern era. Most people recognize that everyone else lacks sense except for themselves and so they assume that the government will fill in the void for them.
I am not saying that I am perfectly prudent all the time. But I do have a good sense of things more often than not. It really isn’t hard once you start applying your own thought processes to everyday situations and not letting your emotions rule your mind. No, I am not a robot and I do feel emotions. But I don’t let them consume me and my own thinking, anymore than I let my own logic rule over me. While both are never in perfect equilibrium, both have a healthy balance in my life, for the most part.
This is what we should strive to do. We should all strive for common sense. The best way to attain it to start reading up on it. If you are a Christian, then I would recommend reading the book of Proverbs in the Bible (incidentally, I find that most Christians only read the New Testament to their own detriment). If you are a non-believer, then you’ll have to look elsewhere and unfortunately, I have nothing I can recommend. It’s not that I haven’t read non-Christian books before, it’s simply that I haven’t been interested in reading anything on the subject.
But you must obtain prudence because from it, all other virtues flow forth. Because our society is full of greedy, selfish individuals (not really much different from the rest of the world), it takes strong prudence to deal with them. If we are to save our society from tyranny, then our only course of action is to encourage and grow prudence in others.