Have We Lost Our Common Sense?

I just ran away
But I knew I'd come back some day
to a small town
-Kenny Chesney

One of the reasons Andy Griffith had such a long run was that a big part of America was looking for the kind of balance, perspective and wisdom that comes from the Main Streets and back roads of small-town America.

Another man rooted in small-town wisdom is Corbin, Kentucky's Bob Terrell. Mr. Terrell waited 77 years to write his first book. His Have We Lost Our Common Sense is part autobiography and part questioning about the direction and future of America.

Terrell seemed to be blessed with befriending some fascinating sports figures early in his life. He was a high school teammate of former Los Angeles Laker basketball star Frank Selvy and of Roy Kidd, who racked-up over 300 wins as a Hall of Fame football coach at Eastern Kentucky University.

As a US Marine in 1958, Terrell developed a friendship with another Marine, former Pittsburgh Pirate Roberto Clemente, that lasted until Clemente's tragic death in 1972. Although Terrell notes that Clemente was one of the greatest baseball players who ever lived, he focuses on Clemente's humanitarian efforts and the impact Clemente had on society.

All of Terrell's book ties back to the question of "Have We Lost Our Common Sense?" Terrell gives good examples of smart people with common sense who are living in places like small-town Kentucky.

It's the type of common sense we need on Wall Street and in Washington.

Don McNay, CLU, ChFC, MSFS, CSSC of Richmond Kentucky is an award winning columnist and Huffington Post contributor. He is the founder of McNay Settlement Group, a structured settlement consulting firm and author of two books, including Son of a Son of a Gambler: Winners Losers and What to Do When you Win the Lottery. McNay is a lifetime member of the Million Dollar Round Table.