Every now and then I find myself driving in some mountainous region of the country.

It doesn’t matter whether I’m threading my way through a series of hairpin turns in the White Mountains or cruising along some gorgeous stretch of California’s Pacific Coast Highway (where the views are always spectacular in spite of the fact that the ocean is on the wrong side of the road).

Either way, I can expect to see the same message plastered across local roadside signs. Wherever craggy cliff meets busy thoroughfare you’ll encounter the same urgent announcement.

The signs I’m talking about feature big block letters rendered in primary colors so passing motorists can read them at a glance. The message itself is very simple: Watch For Falling Rock!

The first time I saw one of those signs I’m pretty sure my response was something along the lines of, “Hey, thanks for the tip. I’ll keep my eyes peeled for the next few miles.”

But, that was long ago when I was just a naive kid.

Since then I’ve had decades to reflect upon the precise nature of that particular vehicular warning. Quite frankly, the more I thought about it the more ridiculous it sounded.

I’m deadly serious. When you really stop and think about it, what are folks expected to do in a situation like that? What steps would a conscientious driver undertake in response such deceptively simple “instructions”?

Let’s take it step by step, shall we? Imagine that somehow you’ve been magically transported to another place and time. You find yourself seated behind the wheel of a car somewhere in the Rocky Mountains. Are you with me so far? Good. Now, imagine that you swerve around the bend and spot one of those “Watch For Falling Rock” signs.

How are you going to react? In which direction exactly should you start looking if you want to figure out if any of those rocks are falling on you? See what I mean? It’s not that easy to do when you really think about it.

Would you look for rocks falling in front of you? Possibly, but by the time you saw them you’d be right on top of them (or even worse, vice versa). So, looking ahead wouldn’t help that much.

Are rocks coming from behind you? That’s just plain silly. Nope. It’s as clear as a mountain stream that the only logical place to look for falling rocks is straight up! Now, just think about that for a minute.

Even if your car happens to be equipped with one of those cool panoramic sunroofs I’m pretty sure that any sustained attempt to stare straight up while you’re driving along a mountain pass is likely to draw the unwanted attention of the nearest state trooper.

Let’s face it. That’s not exactly the sort of evasive maneuver they’re teaching kids in driver’s ed classes these days.

The point I’m trying to make is simply this: those falling rock signs are put up to warn drivers of a genuine hazard. Unfortunately, it happens to be one that the driver can’t really do much about.

The way I figure it, if I’m going to spend a bunch of time and effort “watching out” for something, I’d just as soon channel my energies into something a wee bit more productive, like for instance, an action that might actually lead to a positive outcome.

So, this holiday season I’ve decided to give only gifts that are specifically designed to stimulate creativity, curiosity and love of learning. Come on. There’s tons of interesting educational stuff out there. Gifts that will give your brain cells a real workout.

At this point some of you are probably wondering what educational gifts have to do with dodging falling rocks. Well, maybe nothing, but maybe more than you think.

Like me, you may have noticed a disturbing global trend lately. An alarming number of folks seem to have concluded that the best way to deal with the challenges of modern society is to retreat into some imagined “simpler” (i.e. “dumber”) past. The specific fantasies vary but the results are to same.

Whether trying to resuscitate a brutal political system that fell under its own weight centuries ago or attempting convince folks that several billion people living and working on planet earth have absolutely no effect on our climate and ecology, the results are potentially a lot worse than being hit by a falling rock.

So, besides catching up on math and science, maybe we need to start thinking about posting new signs with the message: “Watch Out for Falling IQs!” Hey, at least that’s a problem we can do something about.