TRACE GALLAGHER: I learned the hard way why common sense matters in America

During the first-ever Republican Midterm Convention in Dallas last week, there was a lot of talk about the “common sense revolution.” It was familiar territory to me because every night on my evening newscast, “Fox News @ Night,” we join the common sense revolution — you could say we started the common sense revolution more than four years ago. We like to call it “The Fox News @ Night Common Sense Department.”

Common sense gives us a chance to take a deeper and sometimes snarkier take on one of the day’s big topics. The goal of the Common Sense Department is not to accuse Americans of not having common sense, but to remind Americans that we share a great deal of common sense. And when somebody or some group steps outside the boundaries of what we consider societal norms, we love to point out exactly why those boundaries exist. Those boundaries were built over many generations by people whose moral code was instilled through faith, family, friends and fortitude.

When I wrote my new book, “Turns Out They Were Right All Along,” I first thought of naming the book “A Trace of Common Sense,” a play on my name and the name of my segment. I soon realized that my stories are about more than common sense; my stories are about wisdom that has been gifted, sometimes forced upon me, by a group of amazing people. Some famous, some not, but all of them taught me that hard work and skill are important, while teamwork and luck are also extremely relevant. That means that, at some point, everyone needs to ride on the shoulders of giants — whatever shape or size those giants happen to come in.

Chief Breaking News Correspondent and Anchor Trace Gallagher’s new book, “Turns Out They Were Right All Along,”  was published on Sept. 15 by HarperCollinsPublishers. (HarperCollins)

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The reason the subtitle of my book is “Life Lessons I Learned Eventually” is because it often takes me a while to recognize solid advice. I have a tendency to wave off wisdom, thinking that I’m better off doing it my way. The problem is, my way is often the wrong way, which on second blush has reminded me to accept good wisdom at face value.

So, after spending years ignoring wisdom before finally accepting it, I now spend a great deal of time passing it on — not only in my book but also by mentoring young people, including young television news correspondents. I labor to convince these young people that America is filled with common sense as long as we are occasionally willing to listen to great wisdom, accept great wisdom and use great wisdom to achieve greatness.

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