Common

On the first glance, it seems unbelievable that while the appropriate choice of action is all too obvious to most of us, common sense is such a rare occurrence that so many people just pick the most silly way to go.

Oh, you are wrong on that.

Let's go back one step and consider. Common sense is in fact a very capability that everyone of us have - that's why it's called common. The only problem is we could use it for only two purposes:

1. To see the solution of others' problem.
   
2. To see the solution of our problem in retrospect.

Alas, it is just that most of us cannot use this extraordinary talent to solve our problem at hand.

And we call them genius for the few who could do so.

I think I should be less cynical.

Remedy

You may ask, "Why don't we include the area next to the front door of the hospital, or to perform necessary emergency care when someone has a cardiac arrest ?"

On that you are wrong. It would be an endless argument to define how far from the door we should include, who to determine the cardiac arrest, and so forth.

For those who are familiar with the theory of administration or ethics, you would notice we are falling into the trap of a slippery slope. If we take care of a distance within 10 meters, why not 20 or 50 ? If we resuscitate someone with a cardiac arrest, do we need to take care of someone with a low blood pressure (which an ordinary receptionist may mistake as cardiac arrest) ? Then, we would next be forced to ask the poor receptionist to handle someone who simply has dizziness.

You open the Pandora box.

I believe that was in fact the reason in the mind of that poor hospital chief when he at first stood firm in front of the media.

PS. When I discussed the story with KM, I commented that the only effective means to prevent such an accident - while having receptionist of the current standard of intelligence - was to move the Information Desk next to the Emergency Department. That would solve one type of silly mishaps - unfortunately only amongst a billion possible types.

Detail

In fact, a sensible (yet a wanting character) administrator should not put up operation instructions that assume the front line staff could exercise common sense - they invariably fail.

But, if we could not put up Exercise your common sense as an operation guideline, it would also be impossible to improve the condition by having more staff training or better equipment - as claimed by some of our senior officials.

The reason is simple: no training or equipment could handle all possible scenarios that happen in the real world. (Albert Einstein was wrong: God does throw dice with the universe. Everything, by the law of quantum physics, happens in a chaotic and unpredictable manner; accidents, however improbable, would occur - usually on the most inconvenient day.)

Alas, now you come to realize why the guideline says "It is not within the hospital area" and "Dial 999". These are things with a clear boundary and could be done by anyone with a motor cortex.

PS. The problem is, while a responsible administrator should never use Exercise your common sense as part of the operation instruction, its application should always be encouraged in real life practice. Many extra-terrestrials have gone so far to forbid the use of this very capability and penalize those who try to be sensible.

That's the real tragedy.

Guideline

Don't get me wrong. I am all for putting up operation guideline for front line staff. After all, we must assume there exists, and in fact it is overwhelmingly common to have, people who could not think with more than two synapses and must have something to follow.

Once we come to understand this, it becomes difficult to conceive a solution to the current problem.

For obvious reasons we cannot simply put up Guideline #1: Exercise your common sense (although that should really be the first sentence of every written instruction, while the second one should be: If you have difficulty to apply Guideline #1, continue to read.).

Then, what should we put up ?

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A side track story of my own suddenly flashes back. When I was a 4th year medical student and attached to a peripheral hospital for my elective period, the consultant physician there took me around on the first day and said, "The first thing you must learn in clinical medicine is to tell if a patient is 頹." (This very Chinese word proves difficult to have an appropriate English translation - it encompasses the meanings of being critically ill, need aggressive treatment, requires invasive investigation, presence of atypical features, giving you a feeling of uneasiness, or a combination of the above.)

"But, what is the criteria of 頹?" I was naive enough to ask.

"Oh, exercise your common sense." And off he went.

Years later I realize he was paying me a compliment and assuming I have that extraordinary capability.

Sense

Many of us were mystified to hear the story of the man who died of a heart attack outside a hospital.

My friend KM outlined a story of a similar kind in his blog (http://drkmchow.blogspot.com/2008/12/ugly.html); he was certainly right in saying that it was a tragic story because of headless adherence to a guideline.

On a second thought, however, the remedy may be tricky.

Of course it is dead simple if the staff could exercise common sense. Nonetheless, as a previous professor of medicine over the other side of the harbour said, "Common sense is not common." To go one step further, if a particular staff is in possession of such an extraordinary talent of having common sense, he should be promoted to a more important position than staying as a receptionist.

Therefore, don't yell at people who blindly follow guideline. You wouldn't shout to an automatic ticket machine because it doesn't comprehen your logical argument, would you ?

You should kick its ass.

Plan

Passed by a book store; Vivian asked if I needed to buy some for my bedtime reading.

"Oh, no. My schedule is rather full. I mean there are enough books for me in the coming year." I considered for while and said.

Well, here are my plan (presumably in that order):

1. Bonkura (糊塗蟲) by Miyabe Miyuki (宮部美幸).
2. The Science of Sherlock Holmes by E. J. Wagner.
3. Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner.
4. 分類尺牘大全.
5. Yes Minister and Yes Prime Minister (re-visit).
6. Food Politics by Marion Nestle.
   
7. The Penguin Writer's Manual by Martin H. Manser and Stephen Curtis.
8. The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, book II and III (re-visit).

As commented by WC, a life-long friend of mine, I'm a head-to-toe pragmatist; there should never be a book bought but left un-read on my shelf.

Country

Briefly watched Love Actually again on TV - I had the whole movie some years ago when it's on the theater.

The whole of my memory with this comedy was the short speech of the Prime Minister, made during the US President came to visit 10 Downing Street and harassed Hugh Grant's secretary:

I love that word "relationship". Covers all manner of sins, doesn't it? I fear that this has become a bad relationship. A relationship based on the President taking exactly what he wants and casually ignoring all those things that really matter to, erm... Britain. We may be a small country but we're a great one, too. The country of Shakespeare, Churchill, the Beatles, Sean Connery, Harry Potter. David Beckham's right foot. David Beckham's left foot, come to that. And a friend who bullies us is no longer a friend. And since bullies only respond to strength, from now onward, I will be prepared to be much stronger. And the President should be prepared for that.

Yes, we may be a small country, but we're a great one, too. A people - be they small or large - who could appreciate the meaning of this little declaration would have hope.

Merry Christmas.