A Beginning..... the End

As we turn our thoughts to a new beginning, I can't help but think of the end. Death is inevitable. After each death, the question that follows is what is next? Do we have a wake, have a funeral, have a burial, cremate, donate the body, etc. The options are numerous.

The one that I do not understand is the burial. There is the thought that you are laying the body to rest for eternity. If you believe that the person has a spirit and a soul that lives on for eternity, then the body is just a shell that personifies the soul and spirit. If the soul and spirit do indeed exsist, I doubt that they would stay in the casket for the rest of eternity. The spirit would do things such as watch over it's loved ones or live peacefully with god. Once again, not in the casket.

Some would argue that the burial ground and tombstone create a memorial where the deceased can be remembered. I contend that family and friends would be much better served by creating a memorial at a place that actually meant something to the deceased. Chances are, the deceased never went to the burial site and has no attachment to it. Remember those passed where memories were created.

If I wish to remember and pay tribute to someone passed, I need only to consult my mind. A place where memories live vividly, and I can visit anytime. Some recognize cemetaries as hallowed ground. I recognize the memories as hallowed. The cemetary is just a place that consumes money and is a waste of good land.

Its Yours..... Own It

Many of the ills that affect us as a nation we consider societal problems. We approach these ills as such. These ills include smoking, obesity, drugs, teen pregnancy, crime, etc. This is the wrong way to look at these ills. These behaviors need to be recognized as self-inflicted. Portraying these behaviors as societal allows the participants to deflect blame. Blame is put onto the product of society excuse and others. Fortunately for us, behavior is a product of free will. We choose to make decisions and we live with the consequences. If participants of these behaviors own there actions and keep the consequences to themselves, then people would be more prone to accept the behavior. So often people don't own the behavior and make excuses pawning off the blame on society, genetics, and so on. If you want to smoke in the privacy of your own home or car, fantastic. If you want to earn money by legitimate means, lock yourself in the house, and do drugs, fine. If you want to get pregnant as a teen, raise your child, and not use government assistance, great. There are very few ways to keep crime's effects to yourself. You get the idea. If you accept the responsibility of your actions and the actions don't adversely effect others, then most people won't care what you do. Choose your behavior, own it, and leave me out of it.

Get Uncomfortable

Those who live in poverty often participate in more self destructive behaviors than other populations. These behaviors include drinking, smoking, drugs, gang involvement, teenage pregnancy, unplanned pregnancy, crime, and so on. People who grow up in this type of environment learn to find comfort in these behaviors, despite the destructive nature. To maintain comfort, many self sabotage by making these behavioral choices. This may be done consciously or not. They remain in their comfort zone and the cycle continues.

To combat this behavior in the youth, efforts are being made to promote the value of an education. That education can take you anywhere you want to go. The problem with this goal is that it is a long term goal. Teens don't look that far into the future. They go to school year after year with the promise that one day it will pay off. It will pay off, but many get lost on the way to the finish line.

Maybe we should take a more simplified, short-sighted goal. Simply encourage teens to step out of their comfort zone. Talk to somebody new, go somewhere new, read something new, learn something new, do something new, experience anything new. New experiences spark curiosity, creativity, thought, and emotion. If we can achieve these things in the minds of youth, then we have achieved something special.

This shouldn't be a goal just for youths, but for everyone. Everyone needs to have new experiences. Everyone needs to be curious, creative, thoughtful, and emotional. Everyone can benefit. New experiences can go good or they can go bad. You might get burned. You might find freedom. But you won't find out until you step out of the comfort zone.

I think its time

As time goes on, there is a natural evolution to our society. Some things that were outlandish 50 years ago are now commonplace. An issue that comes up every election year is the subject of gay marriage. It is time to fully accept and legally recognize gay marriage.

The arguments against gay marriage are plentiful. These arguments include: marriage is between a man and woman, marriage is sacred, marriage involves raising children, gay marriage will undermine the institution of marriage, gay marriage is unnatural, etc. The real reason against gay marriage is religion.

There has been a connection between marriage and religion in the past. Currently, however, one does not need religion to get married. If one doesn't need religion to get married, why should religion impact one's ability to get married? It shouldn't.

Religious holy writings commonly speak out against homosexuality and therefore gay marriage. Many religious followers are against gay marriage because they believe in the literal translations of holy writings. However, these same people choose to manipulate or ignore many other literal translations in these very same holy writings to fit their modern lifestyle. Why not manipulate and ignore writings to fit others modern lifestyle?

Religious?

As we get deeper into the holiday season, the minds of many people turns to religion. Christians prepare to celebrate the birth of Jesus. Jews celebrate Hanukkah, the rededication of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem in 165 BCE. This is an important month in many religions.

This is also a time of year for the annual ritual of countless people attending church on Christmas Eve....attending church for the second time this year. The first time being Easter. This practice brings many questions to mind. Are these people religious? Are they not religious? That's not to say that a Christian is not a Christian if they do not attend church. If you believe in going to church than do so and if you don't, then don't. I won't judge your religious dedication either way. But why would anyone go twice? It doesn't make sense to me. If you are one of these people and would care to explain I would find it helpful. Thanks.

P.S.

BCE stands for Before Common Era. This replaces BC (Before Christ) in order to take the religious meaning out of the dating system. CE (Common Era) replaces AD (Anno Domini - in the Year of the Lord)

Dying Young

Life expectancy has steadily increased throughout the years, especially since the 1950's. This can be attributed to many factors including medical technology, improved food production, etc. The few countries that have seen a decrease are almost all in a state of turmoil and some in civil war.

The United States will almost certainly see that upward trend end during this century, maybe even in the next decade. It will be no other's doing but our own. 65% of our adults are overweight. 31% of our adults are obese. Obesity can lower a person's life expectancy by as much as 10 years.

That's not to say that medicine will not advance at a similar rate. It very well may, but I doubt it. Throughout history, there have been factors that have lowered life expectancy that have been largely uncontrollable. These include war, disease, etc. This is not one of those cases.

Everyday people choose to die younger. Everyday people choose to make excuses instead of making changes. Everyday I become more unsympathetic.

Green Gone Easy

Going green is a movement that has gained popularity over the years. The major complaints against living green is the inconvenience and the cost. One must find the time to separate the recyclables, find the money to buy natural and organics, reduce fuel consumption, etc.

Some of these changes are an inconvenience and I get that. However, some changes are too easy and make too much sense not to participate. Phillips has developed a new LED light bulb to replace the incandescent 60W light bulb. Granted, this LED bulb will be more expensive than an incandescent 60W bulb. This new bulb emits the same amount of light, yet uses less than 10W. They also will last longer than a standard bulb..... 25 times longer (25,000 hours). If all standard bulbs in the US were changed to these LED bulbs, it would save enough electricity to light 17.4 million households.

These bulbs are not out yet but they are on the way. Go green, save the planet, save electricity, and save some time.

Does It Come with a Warranty?

I was thinking today about different ideas pertaining to health care. What if we thought of health care more like the warranty on your TV instead of our current system?

Everyone born in the US comes with a government sponsored lifetime limited warranty. 100% full coverage up until age 16. After 16, there are some stipulations. Much like a TV warranty, you are fully covered for manufacturer defect. You are also covered for accidental breakages. However, you are not covered under situations of user negligence. This would include any complications directly related to weight, tobacco usage, drug usage, alcohol, etc. For the overweight, no coverage for diabetes, cholesterol, hypertension, etc. For smokers, emphysema, various cancers, heart disease, etc. You get the idea.

If you make responsible decisions and make healthy choices, you are rewarded with free or cheap health care. If you make unhealthy choices, you are rewarded with high health care costs. Your Choice.

Free the Entrepreneurs

Despite the economic recession, the United States is know for its wealth and prosperity. This wealth was built on centuries of the entrepreneurial spirit. These entrepreneurs took on risk for the purpose of bettering their lives and expressing their ideas. Henry Ford, Bill Gates, and John D. Rockefellar are just a few of America's great entrepreneurs.

Today, their are many people who have similar aspirations. For many who are stuck in corporate monotony, there are dreams of breaking free and unleashing their ideas on the world. However, there is a looming obstacle in the way known as the American healthcare system. The fear of leaving the comfort of corporate benefits for obscenely high premiums for a family of four is understandable. Adding healthcare cost to a mortgage, car payments, bills, etc. is more than enough to persuade even the most talented people into curtailing their desire for freedom.

Family is everything. Many would be entrepreneurs simply cannot risk the well being of their family, despite their confidence in their ideas. The current healthcare system not only hurts individuals, but stifles innovation and progression. Our system needs reform, for the health of our people and the liberation of their ideas.

The Irony of the Stop Smoking Movement

The arguments against smoking are many. I am a major proponent of smoking cessation for the environmental factor as well as the mere annoyance factor. Smoking pollutes the air with countless chemicals, not to mention the billions of cigarettes that find their way onto the ground. Second hand smoke is just bothersome and perilous.

Another argument against smoking is the cost on the healthcare system due to smoking. As compared to non-smokers, the cost of healthcare for smokers is higher at every age range. This difference in cost is as high as 40% for 65-74 year olds.

So if everyone quits smoking then healthcare cost should decrease? Well, yes..... at first.

The irony comes in because the cost of healthcare will decrease shortly after everyone quits smoking. However, after 10-15 years, the cost of healthcare will actually increase. Why?...... because the average non-smoker lives 6-7 years longer than a smoker. That's approximately 48 million people who would live 6-7 years longer. Imagine those health care costs.

Urgency.... A Time for Change

Real urgency brings about positive change. Cut out anything that slows you down. Skim the fat. Don't hide problems or crisis. Take the crisis as an opportunity to impart change. Don't be complacent, be ambitious.

At a time when it seems that many employees are expendable, make yourself irreplaceable. Be urgent. Step out of the comfort zone and set yourself apart from your coworkers. Think progressively, work more efficiently, and pay attention to detail.

Be urgent, but don't stress out. Anxiety and stress are tell-tale signs of fake urgency. Occupying your mind with stress and anxiety takes time away from valuable ideas and productive thought. Be urgently level-headed.

Another sign of fake urgency is being extremely busy. Fake urgency is performing a myriad of busywork that adds up to a full day of work but achieves no change. Real urgency has a goal, is focused, and results in change.

Obama has made a call for urgency, to make a change, and improve a nation. Unfortunately for us, most politicians must be too BUSY to hear the call.

John Kotter, a Harvard business professor, has written a book on urgency, A Sense of Urgency. This book is an in-depth account on urgency and how to use it effectively within a organization. Many of the points I have made can be found in more detail in his book.

America is Lazy and Therefore Fat

If you have any doubt as to how lazy American are, just go to any Wal-Mart or supermarket. Count the number of shopping carts that are left out to aimlessly wander the parking lot, occupy prime parking spots, and ding innocent cars.

How much effort does it really take to return a shopping cart? Most supermarkets have cart corrals spread throughout the parking lot for your convenience. The following calculations are being done to demonstrate how lazy Americans are.

Lets say that the average person has to walk 25 steps each way to return the cart.
- That is a total of 50 steps.
- The average person takes 2000 steps in 1 mile.
- In 1 mile the average person burns approximately 110 calories.
- To burn 1 calorie you have to take about 18 steps
= To return the shopping cart you just burned about 3 calories. Now I understand why people find it too exhausting to return a shopping cart. If you return 17 more shopping carts you'll finally burn off that 1 Oreo you had for lunch.

Now some people will say that they don't have enough time to return the cart. Understandable, right?

Lets say that it takes you were walking 3 mph for the 50 steps it will take you to return the cart.
- 3 mph is a 20 minute mile.
- The average person takes 2000 steps in 1 mile.
- That is 100 steps per minute.
- You took 50 steps.
= To return the shopping cart it took you 30 seconds.

- The average person in the USA watches approximately 4.5 hours of TV a day.
- There are 16 minutes of commercials per hour of American TV.
= The average person in the USA watches 72 minutes of commercials per day.

That means you could return 144 shopping carts during the time you spend watching TV commercials per day.

So please spare the 3 calories and the 30 seconds to return your shopping cart. The supermarket employees will appreciate it.