The other day we went to Toys R Us to get somebody a gift. I was browsing around when my eyes caught a warning label on a stroller. It read -- "Caution: Please remove infant before folding for storage." Really?! Parents need to be told this? I researched the origin of the label and found the reason behind it. The company that makes the stroller prints this cautionary label to protect itself from being sued!
Now how crazy is that. Then there was another label that caught my attention. This one was for a hammer. The caution label on the package said- "Please use only on nail head. Can cause serious injury on human head." I researched a bit more and found many more ridiculous caution labels. This all probably started with the (in)famous coffee cup burning case, where a woman won a lot of money as a result of getting burnt by spilling a steaming cup of coffee on herself from her own coffee cup.
So where does this lead us as a society, a community or as a nation? If we all are always looking for a reason to sue somebody, society cannot work as a cohesive unit. Common sense seems to be making a slow exit from our fast paced lives, punctuated by recent fiasco's by our esteemed Congressmen and Senators, where common sense seems to be an ugly word.
Common sense took a real beating when you couldn't defend yourself from a burglar in your own home and the burglar could sue you for assault. Till the words "It just could be my fault" and "Life isn't always fair" don't sink in our minds, common sense will have a tough resurgence.
Here's a parting cautionary label warning, going beyond the the realm of the ridiculous, on a bottle of SLEEPING PILLS-
"Warning -- MAY CAUSE DROWSINESS!"
.
