How Common is Common Sense?

How common is common sense?

Not as common as you might think as I discovered in Target a few days before Christmas. I was perusing a toy aisle, looking for that perfect birthday gift for my grandson who turned one just two days before Christmas.

Trying to decide which one I wanted, I noticed a baby in a nearby shopping basket. He looked to be about nine-months-old and caught my attention as he stretched to reach a toy at eye level.

Thinking that he might fall out of the basket, I looked around for his mom. It was then that I realized that I was alone on the aisle with this baby. Yes, you read me right. I was alone on the aisle with this basket that held a baby in the front and a purse in the back. Incredulous, I looked to my left and right to make sure my eyes weren’t deceiving me. Not knowing what to do, I froze. Under no circumstances could I leave this baby.

A woman came around the corner pushing a basket that held what looked to be her grandchild. As she approached, she politely said, “Excuse me,” unable to navigate her basket around me and the basket I was guarding. As I cleared the way for her, I whispered, “I don’t know whose this is.” She looked to her left and right, and, convinced that she misheard me, said, “Excuse me?” “I don’t know whose this is!” She gasped and hesitated, unsure if she should leave this unattended baby either.

A few minutes later, a woman, presumably the baby’s grandmother, came around the corner, and swung the basket around, oblivious to the two women with gaping mouths staring at her. As she headed for another aisle the woman next to me muttered, “Some people are so stupid!” and stormed off.

For some reason, I needed to know that she was not going to do this again on my watch, so I walked from one toy aisle to another until I found not one, but two women with this baby. Yes, not only the grandmother, but the baby’s own mother had left him unattended. Yet, I could not bring myself to say anything to them. I admit that I feared their reaction and rationalized that nothing I said would make any difference; it would just make them mad. I also wanted to avoid a scene, not trusting myself and surely not trusting them. Shamefully, I must admit that I just walked away.

Isn’t that the same thing we do with our loved ones? Many times, I will hear of a couple getting divorced and think, “Well, everyone saw that coming. They have been having problems for years.” Yet, I do not say anything to them. After all, it is none of my business, right? How many times has God put something on my heart and I refused to acknowledge it because it would mean being in an uncomfortable situation?

“Brother, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted. Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.”

Galations 6:1-2