Not as bad as we think

In a perfect world, we'd win every game, ace every test, have a flawless driving record, date the prom queen and never be ill.
How boring would that be?
Well let me tell you... I'd think an easy life would be absolutely bland.
The struggle we endure defines us as persons.
Adults with the strongest character traits you will find were bullied or had tough childhoods. I've yet to meet the saint who had everything handed to them and lacked for nothing.
Working for things makes me appreciate what I have. When I don't think I'm going to make it, along comes something that puts me over the top.
Maybe it's the optimist in me, but we need to look for the silver lining among all the storm clouds. 
Case in point: We just switched banks and while our checks have come in, (who writes checks nowadays?) Our debit cards haven't arrived. Storm clouds were threatening to boil over my head as I searched the house for a likely envelope containing the cards. As I was searching I came across my missing car registration.
I had to find it by looking for something else, go figure.
Money is tight, that's reality. If it were only a case of going into the backyard and picking a few fifties off the ol'money tree...
(That's a story I'm thinking about, so hands off people.) 
Tomorrow I have an opportunity to earn some cash doing a job for a friend's father. That income will cover an outstanding bill of mine. 
See how that works? A reverse osmosis income. I don't earn money to pay the bills, I have to pay a bill, so I earn money.
I'm trying my best to reverse that trend, but some times it happens that way.
I don't drive the latest or stylish of cars. In the reverse osmosis logic I just demonstrated, I rarely have an accident or ticket. I also do a lot of maintenance on the cars myself. It saves money and I take better care of my possessions that way. People laugh that I have a car nearly as old as my teenage daughter. Those same people couldn't change a brake pad or point to an air filter if they looked under the hood. Just saying...
When we get sick, we appreciate the times we're healthy. And you will get better. Deep down you have to believe in your ability to get healthy. 
There have been times when I was so sick or injured that it felt like I would never climb out of the hole I found myself in.
But I did.
Whatever you have to believe in to overcome your situation.
Believe in a God... Believe in fate... But most of all Believe in yourself.
No matter what hole you find yourself in, remember it's not as bad as it could be.     
           

Finding ethics while waiting tables

Four presidents and many moons ago, I was waiting tables at Perkins. It wasn't enough money to justify the hard work, crazy shifts and idiotic robbers. But once in a great while something profound comes of it.
As I approached a new table of customers to take thier order, I overheard a snippet of conversation.
"...A child's life begins at conception," said a male at the table.
"No," said the female. "The fetus can't function outside the mother's womb until she gives birth to it."
Ah... the 'when does life begin' argument. It's so much more entertaining when the parties involved have had too many beers before debating the finer points of life. Something must have shown on my face, because the female turned to me and said, "What do you think?"
Oh, boy. Think fast kiddo. That's what I get for not having my stone face mask of indifference on. 
I did the only thing I could think of. Raising my hands and shaking my head, I said, "Oh, no no no. Not with my tip on the line." 
This girl was neither drunk or shy. Her co-horts I wasn't so sure about.
"Don't worry about that," she said. "I want to know what you think."
What did I think? I set my order book down. The next words I utter might cost me my job.
I did a quick read of body language at the table. They were more or less sober, dressed in comfortable clothes, apparently not just out from a bible study. None of the clues were there to tell me if they were conservative zealots or not.
The two men on either side of the woman sat in such a way that they sat angled toward her. For her part, the woman sat up straight and leaned forward slightly. She was listening for an answer. The men might not have made up their minds on this particular issue. My gut feeling was they deferred to her. Taking a deep breath, I dove in.
"I will never know what it's like to be a woman. This issue isn't black or white, but rather a subtle shade of gray. The only person who has a say over a woman's body is the woman herself."
The woman was ready for cross exam. "But how do you feel about abortion and when life begins?"
With only a moments hesitation I answered. "When a child takes it's first breath on it's own." A smile crossed her face. Before she could speak, I continued. 
"We have the technology to be able to terminate a pregnancy. What we need to ask ourselves is when and should. Again, this is not a black and white situation. The mother should decide if it's the right thing to do or not for her situation." 
The guys were starting to look upset, so I addressed them. "Abortion should always be the last option. I've known girls who use it as the first option, and I think that's wrong. There are other things out there that could have been done first."
"Condoms:" I continued. "Three minutes of embarrassment at Wal-greens is worth the next 20 years of your life." Eyebrows shot up in surprise, including the guys. 
The pill, IUD's, they even make an injection nowadays."  
"We're talking about choices here. Both men and women need to make honest, responsible choices... and speaking of choices, have you decided what you would like to eat?"
I got a pretty decent tip out of that.

For some time now I've felt that as advanced technologically as we are, mankind is pretty stupid on the moral and ethics part of civilization.
What we need to do is think. Just because we can do something doesn't mean we should.
You want to have sex? Bring along protection.
I knew a girl who waited tables with me. She told me outright that she figures she's had 7 or 8 abortions. She also admitted she lost count.
That's disgusting.
I don't know what her hangup was, but she needed to get over her aversion to latex or get a prescription, and I told her so. Her classic answer, 'Fuck off', still rings of irony.
In all seriousness now, run a few 'what if?' scenarios in your head.  If your girlfriend informs you she's pregnant, what would you do? If your daughter admits to having a sexual encounter, what would you do?
What ever you decide, make it a better plan then the one you had growing up. 
       

Arrgh!

Imagine me with a very stupid look on my face...  okay more stupid than usual. The reason no one could follow this blog is because I didn't put the darn button on the screen! It's there now, so please hit that thing and let me know you're reading this. It's right over on right side of the screen. So how did I get two followers when I didn't have the magic button? No idea, but I suspect they're wizards among us muggles. Again, sorry for the confusion. Did I mention I didn't know what I'm doing?
 

Beginning of the end?

One of the quotes that has stuck with me through the ages goes something like this:
'The reason dinosaurs are extinct is because they didn't have a space program.' 
That quote can be attributed to Arthur C. Clarke or Larry Niven, both science fiction writers of great renown. With all due respect to Mr. Niven, I'm going to go with Clarke as the originator of that observation. Perhaps Niven expounded on that idea, which is all right by me.
In my mind, the benefits have always outweighed the cost. If we take a look at human history, we have always felt the need to expand our horizons. That time is fast approaching once more.
Last February 15th a meteor entered the atmosphere in Russia, detonating with a force of 440 kilotons of TNT. It is estimated the blast was 20 to 30 times more powerful than an atomic bomb.
For those of us who are scientifically challenged, that was a big damn explosion. Over 7,000 buildings in 6 cities were destroyed, sending 1,200 people to the hospital.
Imagine the city you live in and the 5 closest towns to you. Now envision them destroyed or damaged beyond our ability to repair them. 
Scientists estimate the meteor was 17 to 20 meters long (52 to 65 feet) and the kicker? It came out of nowhere! No one saw it coming. We earthlings have this huge blind spot called the sun, and we're only moderately lucky at spotting the ones that come at us from the other direction. Here's the wikipedia entry. 
If you're thinking to yourself, 'Oh, that's just one and it happened to Russia.' Well guess again kiddies.
That happened last Friday. It came as close as 3.6 million miles (5.8 million kilometers.) or 15 times the distance between Earth and the moon. Here's a better link. Estimates say QEII is nine times larger than an ocean liner. The fact it shares the initials with the Queen Elizabeth II is just coincidence.
This asteroid is big enough to have a smaller chunk of rock orbiting it like a moon. Wrap your head around that. While it did pass us and we're not in danger from that chunk of rock, it will be back... in 200 years.
So let's think this one out. A rock half the size of a football field can level several cities. The asteroid that caused the dinosaurs extinction was believed to be about 6 miles long.
So QEII, which measures approximately 1.7 miles (2.7 kilometers) across, can bring us a world of hurt no matter where it lands.
We are overdue for a culling of the herd. Is this a call for mass killings? No. Instead, I want to put the idea out there that we need to expand our horizons. We humans need to be sending colonists to the Moon. We need to set up colonies on Mars and the Jovian satellites. I do not say this lightly or with visions of Star Trek in my head. Who ever goes first must realize it will be a one way trip, both into the history books as well as out into the solar system.