During one of the economic tumbles that have occurred over the past few decades, my brother-in-law, Homer, was temporarily laid off from his regular job. Homer was a shade tree mechanic by avocation so he readily found a job at a small garage near the local university. Homer was not well read but he could take a flat head Ford engine apart and put it back together in his sleep.
One day a sharply dressed student came in with his overheated car. The fellow was immediately recognizable as an engineering student because of the pocket protector in his white shirt pocket. He told Homer that he wanted a new voltage regulator installed because the car was overheating. Homer tried to explain that what he probably needed was a new thermostat since that was what controlled the temperature in his engine. The student then proceeded to lecture my brother-in-law, telling him that as an Electrical Engineer he knew what was wrong and that he wanted the voltage regulator replaced. Being the gentle, easy going person that he was; Homer replaced the voltage regulator. The next day the humbled Electrical Engineer returned and suggested that they try replacing the thermostat. If it had been me, I would have replaced the transistor in the carburetor and the muffler bearing while I was at it.
My father did a similar foolish thing when the hot water went out at our home on 22 Clover St. I hate to admit it, but one of the solutions he tried was to switch the handles on the faucets. He probably thought that somehow the lines to the sink had been reversed and by putting the cold knob on the left everyone would stop bugging him. Then again, he really did not have much experience with electrical, mechanical, or plumbing items. As a matter of fact, he and his dad, my grandfather, were much more comfortable on the farm than in the city or with the city conveniences.
There are some things that people do that are just plain dumb, like the kid we watched trying to fill up his gas tank at the Sohio station in Englewood. He was obviously a new driver out to perhaps fill the tank for the first time. The kid pulled to the right side of the island, stopped the car, walked back to the pump, and realized that his fill cap was on the right side of the car. He got back into the car, pulled out, circled and came back on the other side of the island headed in the opposite direction. He got out, looked at the pump, noted that his tank was on the opposite side, got back in, pulled out, circled, and came back to the pump – again on the left side of the car. He got out, red faced, looked at my wife and I, who were by this time holding our sides, laughing, and pulled the hose across the trunk to his tank. He put in just a couple of gallons and left thoroughly embarrassed – as well he should have been.
People always seem to see solutions to problems from their own vantage point. Preachers want to resolve conflicts by praying about them. Soldiers resolve conflicts by beating the tar out of their opponents. Politicians resolve conflicts by jawboning so much that you forget about them. Lawyers will sue to resolve the conflicts. You get the idea – people’s first inclination to solve a problem is to use the tools that they know. Sometimes the tools that you have at your disposal are not the best to solve the problem.
In recent years we have had a lot of solutions proposed by politicians. Our elected officials have listened to the lobbyists or to the loud voices that have more votes or contributions than they have facts. I cringe at the thought of our society moving forward with the knee jerk reactions coming from people who see solutions from their perspective. Unfortunately for us, many of our legislators are lawyers and see the solution to any problem is to pass another rule or regulation. When we allow laws to replace common sense then we are doomed for the simple reason that laws can be interpreted and manipulated, whereas common sense is pretty absolute.
