Don't Look Down!

What is up with looking down? Nothing good has ever come from it. You may think looking down while walking will prevent tripping, which is certainly not always the case, and you only look up in time to get smacked in the face. If you’ve ever performed on stage you probably already know that looking down makes you look bad. Closed. Insecure. Lacking the confidence you once had as an up-looker (if in fact you ever were one).

As if this argument required further illustration, which is doesn’t, please scroll the page down and view the following video. Do not simply adjust your eye-level to the bottom of the page. Looking down is a slippery slope.



Yes, now you see the true consequences of looking down. Wile E. Coyote might have continued walking on air if he’d kept his eyes on the prize….or anywhere but down.

Why is this such a big deal? Take any majorly successful person: businessmen, professional athletes, Dumbledore, or Barack Obama. You know what got them where they are now? Well, it wasn’t looking down! Successful people are confident, look out to meet the world, and take on its challenges. You can tell a lot about a person by where they look. Don’t go telling the wrong story by looking down.



I really don’t know how much more explanation this point requires, but if you were wondering why people use phrases such as “chin up” and “what’s got you down?”…let’s just do a little comparison. Things you see while looking down: dirt, your shoes, a lucky penny (probably covered in Swine Flu), old gum, filth, grime, disease, etc. Things you see while looking up and out: the world, people, your future, opportunity, etc. Point made? I thought so.

Due to the curvature of the Earth, if you look straight ahead (line of sight parallel to the ground) on a generally level flatland, you’ll never have to see the ground again! Now if you live in a valley or near mountains, you may see ground, but it is off in the distance: future ground, if you will. Future ground is OK.

The World doesn't elect America's President.

You know what I just love? Don't answer that (that could lead to a number of crude responses). I love the media's use of polls. The media loves them. Politicians love them. Or, they hate them. If the poll says what they want, they put it on the front page. If it doesn't, it gets put in the classifieds. Well, a recent poll that has no relevance at all says that the people of the world want Obama as President.

First off, just a little FYI to media people who thought that poll somehow mattered, this is an AMERICAN election. In this election, who matters are the AMERICAN candidates, and what the AMERICAN people want. 80% of the French want Barack (This picture of Barack comes from the French magazine Le Monde. 

Well guess what France, you can have him after the election, if he defects and becomes a French citizen, but for now, we decide. Obviously the percentage is just as high in Kenya, but once again, Kenya is not the US, and neither is Russia, another country that also wants him to be President.

And, if it weren't enough that we have to hear about how the rest of the world wants to run our country, the beleaguered British PM Gordon Brown praised Obama's charisma and economic platforms, in a time when his party is anything but motivated. He claims that he has not endorsed Obama, but in the article that was written by one of his party's junior staffers, there was no mention of McCain. Seems like a 'not so discreet, under the table, while handing the goods to the wrong hands' type of endorsement to me. 

At any rate, while some may argue that the Presidency of the US is a global issue, because we are the world's lone superpower (excluding an emerging China, and a resurgent Russia), the fact remains, that the responsibility and privilege to elect OUR head of state, does still reside in the hands of the American people, and not in the world's hands. It is not the United States of the World. But the United States of America. Now let's stick to the issues, and let America figure out its own domestic affairs (I know we don't always let the rest of the world do it, but if I were president, sovereign states would remain that way under most conditions, and as far as I know the US is a sovereign state).