Happy Memorial Day!

I hope everyone is having a great memorial day. I know I posted about it before, but this day is a truly special one in the United States. Many think of it as merely an extended weekend in which to have barbecue with friends, but I would hope that many more know its true significance. 

Memorial Day is a national holiday in the US, and is designated as such so that we may honor those who have fought for our freedom and way of life for hundreds of years. We honor the valiant and noble young men and women who have donned the uniforms of our armed forces from every generation and every war - from the Revolutionary War to the present day wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. 

Our hearts go out to those who have lost loved ones, and our souls fill with pride and honor as we remember the great ones who have preceded us in fighting for such a magnificent dream. America is and should always remain a land of hope, freedom, justice, honor, and courage. 

It is such a simple thing in comparison to all that they have done - to honor their service on one day of the year. To wear the red, white, and blue. To wave a little flag. To salute the fallen, and to thank those active duty military members today. 

Today I helped coordinate the National Memorial Day Parade in Washington, DC. I think it was a marvelous success. All of the branches of the military were honored with bands, flags, musical numbers, honored guests, dignitaries and thousands of Washingtonians, Brazilians, Belgians, Kuwaitis, and many other nationalities. I wish you all could have been there, but I'm hopeful that you had your own parade or traditional celebration of some kind in your own hometown. God Bless you, America, and the Troops, both fallen and those still with us.

The Provo Divide

In the town of Provo there is a great divide.

I have spoken of it on many occasions with many friends. In Provo, and especially around Brigham Young University, there are a lot of young, college-aged types who are looking for a good education, maybe some work, and a good time. Rarely, do they get all three. And if they do, they are the lucky ones.

As a college town, you might expect there to be a lot of students. This is true. But BYU is not the only school here. There is UVSC (Soon to be UVU), along with many beauty schools and other schools I've never heard of. So, the pond is stocked full of tons of fish. You might think, "Well that's good. If you have lots of fish, you have a lot more options." True. But everyone thinks that way and it creates a mindset that is detrimental to anyone ever getting anywhere in life (socially speaking). With so many options girls and guys around here tend to be either extremely non-committal, or way too committal. The first mindset happens because the first group sees so many options, they become fickle, picky, stupid, and like playing games and become worthless flakes, and the second mindset happens because once the other group finds someone, they cling to them for dear life out of insecurity of the system regardless if the person is an absolute monstrosity. So if that's all we've got, it leads me to wonder, what about the middle? Are you telling me (or am I telling myself) that people either play the field or get married after 6 weeks? Yes. The middle is nearly non-existent.

And, that middle has the only people with any common sense. This middle believes that you can date someone to get to know them and see if something more is there without thinking of long-term all the time. The middle believes that you should date whoever you want, but that being on two dates together does not make you a couple. The middle dates for the sake of dating. And, learns about people, relationships, and what they want out of life in a normal way. They are the balance. But, where are they? Well they have fallen into the Provo divide. Into the deep chasm that is or was the normal way to interact. I am one of them. I am not super-committal (I'm not looking to get married after a couple days or weeks of knowing someone), and I'm not a flake (I don't get interested in one girl on one day and then totally psych myself out, convince myself she's ugly, stupid or uninterested and move on to my back log of other potentials). So where do I fit here? That's a good question. Perhaps I just need to go back to the real world (like any place outside of Utah).

I love Big Tobacco

Something that I will never understand is how the government decides to punish one industry to such a degree and then turns a blind eye to one that can be just as bad. The issue I speak of is the massive settlement that big tobacco had to pay to the states and the people that it "tricked," and the fact the big alcohol hasn't paid a dime in that kind of a class-action suit.

First off, if you smoke, and you got cancer, you did it to yourself. There have been surgeon general's warnings on cigarettes since the 60s. It's like blaming Little Debbie for being overweight. You have to take some responsibility. But, given the precedent that occurred, with Phillip Morris doling out hundreds of billions to smokers and states to fund ads against themselves and create anti-smoking clubs and clinics, it seems only fitting that we should also scrutinize alcohol (and any other industry that may be harmful to your health).

Alcoholism is a prevalent and destructive disease that destroys families and individual lives, yet, alcohol companies only have to put the words "drink responsibly" at the end of their commercial instead of "may cause fetal alcohol sydrome, dependency, alcoholism or severe complications for those who take heart medicine." And why is that? Because the alcohol lobby has been lining the pockets of congress for years. The Busch family has many good friends in Washington, and most likely has better litigators, so Budweiser gets the stamp of approval just like Coors, Mike's Hard Lemonade, or any other brand. It's not fair. People need to know the truth. Just as there are truth ads about tobacco, there need to be truth ads about alcohol. We want a more educated populace right? Then let's stop allowing them to be mislead by big alcohol. They do a great job with commercials. I openly admit that beer and rum commercials are some of the best on TV. But, it's very misleading. Captain Morgan isn't going to turn you into Jack Sparrow, or the Captain, or any other pirate super hero. The Coors Light vent is only going to allow you to drink more and faster and when you think of budweiser they want you to think hops and clydesdales, not red necks in wife beaters. But you know better.


And this isn't just about alcohol either, you can poke yourself in the eye with a pen. Let's sue BIC! You can get fat off of twinkies. Let's sue hostess! You can hurt yourself wearing some lingerie. Let's sue Victoria's Secret! You can get shocked putting a fork in a toaster. Let's sue GE! You can get into a car accident. Let's sue all the car companies! I think you get my point. We live in a sue-happy society. Frivolous lawsuits started with the lady and her hot coffee spilling on her from McDonalds. So what? Deal with it. You bought the coffee, read the label that the contents were hot and spilled it on yourself. But of course it was McDonald's fault. But, seeing as we can't take back the lawsuit against big tobacco or McDonalds, we might as well just balance it by suing everyone else to make it fair. Makes perfect sense. The hops did it.