It would be interesting to see if worry, vindictiveness, greed,
and self-righteousness are actually more dangerous to well-being
than smoking and eating red meat.
Say, if the seperation of church and state is dictated by
the law of the land, where in the hell does the government get off
dictating what I can or can't eat ? That interferes with my personal
beliefs. (And their recomendations are often based on pseudo-scientific
studies, which start with a preferred hypothesis and then generate the
research to support it.)
"Golly, bad eating habits might raise national health care
problems." Let's compensate by teaching courtesy as part of driver's
licensing and levying fines against people who drive like idiots. Should take about two weeks of nation-wide traffic policing to pay off the deficit.
Then I have to listen to people whine about the police wasting
time on traffic work and not serious crime. The police showing up after your store is robbed doesn't prevent a death. Taking bad drivers off the road does.
So, eat what you will, take care of yourself as you need to, listen to what your body is telling you. Be educated on what you are ingesting, be it medicine, supplement, food or drink, and slow down on those roads. Whaddaya think this is, a freakin' video game ?
Bet that kills more people than a lot of the stuff those brainwashers in the news media cry about. You are safer in a plane than a car. Hell, you are safer in a plane eating bacon and eggs !
RANDOM COLLECTION OF THOUGHTS FROM LATER THAT SAME DAY....
Jack Kennedy appeared on Jack Parr's Tonight Show once, and answered a question from the audience regarding why the United States could not send young people to other countries to spread Democracy as the Communists were sending to spread their doctrine. To paraphrase Kennedy:
"We need to have a national defense second to none, and we need to set an example the rest of the world will want to follow. I don't believe you can sell Democracy, people have to want it."
Remember, our way of life was something Kennedy wanted to share with the world, and he was against communism. He knew that it was very easy to sell the idea of communism, offering a share of what others had earned to these young people, these students. The problem is, "gimme-ism" and the actual practice of communism are quite different. These young people, in their fervor to take from intellectuals, leaders, and the wealthy that which they had earned, misunderstood that wanting and feeling worthy are a cheap shadow of earning and deserving.
This is one of the ways in which we have failed to show a good example to the rest of the world, Too many embrace some of the same ideals those young communists did, and want others to fulfill their wants, to reward them with what they feel they deserve.
Truthfully, our nation is largely driven by capitalism. Regardless of our ideals and philosophies, few of us don't admire those who have succeeded in commercial enterprise. Most who chastise others for their success, secretly want success also, and are ashamed to admit it.
Why should we be ashamed of success? When some entertainer - be they actor, director, singer, sports figure, or comedian - espouses their personal political-philosophy, by virtue of fame, it is divine wisdom above that of others. Somehow the thought ever enters our mind that we never heard of this person until after they have earned more than the average citizen earns in ten years. With few exceptions, the machinery of the media that brings these supposedly stellar lights to our attention is driven by other than purely altruistic motives, and success is most often defined or accompanied by large capital earnings.
We, today, have far too much emphasis on self-esteem. The belief has been that having self-esteem will help you to succeed. We can learn from the examples of a great many successful people that self-esteem is only of use in it’s proper place-recognition of esteem for accomplishment.
Without an external cause to esteem self, we are just telling ourselves how wonderful we are without any basis. If we are going to be an example to the world, let’s strive to succeed, and have something we base our esteem on.