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The Power In Common Sense

We went back to how we were taught when challenged, use our brains along with a dose of commonsense.

By Annelise Lords Address 3 Royal Crest Road Hyde Park NY 12538Published 3 years ago 3 min read
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Image by iS IStock

I was accompanying my daughter on one of her delivery trips. GPS found the address.

How aware are you of the numbering order of the properties in your community?

Are you aware that all even-numbered houses are on one side of the road, and the odd-numbered homes are on the opposite side? And in some communities, the odd numbers are on the left, and the even numbers are on the right. Of course, that depends on which direction you are going.

Turning down that specific street, GPS began to confuse us because of signal weakness.

 So we went back to how we were taught when challenged, use our brains along with a dose of commonsense. 

In this community, the homes were all the way in, so the numbers weren't visible from the road. So private deliveries will rely on the mailbox number in front of the residents to identify the addresses for them. 

This was not so. 

Checking the number on the address, we attempt to compare it to the number on the first house. That number should tell us how far or how near the home is and which side of the street. We started to check the numbers going down and noticed that the number didn't go according to the 'house numbering order,' our brain is familiar with. It goes in numerical order. Its range is like this, 102, 103, 104, 105, etc., on the right side of the street as we go down.

That wasn't very clear.

A town heavily populated with houses on both sides of a street, but mailboxes on only one side, is confusing for anyone making deliveries without prior knowledge. The image above is understandable because the houses are not visible. 

Getting annoyed, she asks, "how can this be? Shouldn't the even numbers be on one side of the street and the odd numbers be on the other side?"

Glancing around, I noticed that the numbers were on both sides of the street, but something was different. On the left side going down, there were odd numbers only written on different objects in front of the houses. This doubles the confusion for the ones without common sense.

Our brain loves familiarity, and it's programmed to reach out to familiar things. Familiar things make us comfortable, allowing us to feel safe and relaxed. That will make decisions easier. 

Unfamiliar things demand more from us while expanding our brain and knowledge. It opens doors to more learning, new ideas, innovation, friendships, etc. It opens into a different world. 

It's fear for some of us. We fear what we don't know and can't understand.

Common sense kicked in.

On the right side of the street were the mailboxes. Looking ahead, I noticed a line of mailboxes running down to the end of the road. Each mailbox had a number that identifies and connects to the homeowner.

I have never been to a town where all of the mailboxes were position on one side of the street.

Have you?

This is confusing and can be annoying to anyone making deliveries, especially if they don't know the area.

With the help of common sense, we figured it out.

In this area, all mailboxes were on the right side of the road. Thus making the United States Postal Service job more accessible, but it's a learning experience for other deliveries. That isn't a bad thing, but for the ones who learn nothing, it will be.

Common sense makes the most confusing and challenging situation or circumstance easier to handle, leaving us with more insight and valuable lessons that we can share with others.

Common sense costs us only if it's not used!

Thank you for reading this piece. I hoped you enjoyed it.

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About the Creator

Annelise Lords Address 3 Royal Crest Road Hyde Park NY 12538

Annelise Lords writes short inspiring, motivating, thought provoking stories that target and heal the heart. She has added fashion designer to her name. Check out https: https://www.etsy.com/shop/ArtisticYouDesigns?

for my designs.

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