Brian Lochte…
What a flop! First, on the 4x100 freestyle, he was given the lead entering his
leg, the last one, the gold medal on a platter, and he got passed and beat by
the French. Second, on his marquee event, the 200 freestyle, he didn’t show any
heart at all and did not medal… My two younger daughters like him because he is handsome and
he is a Gator, but he appears ‘yellow’ to me…
OK, what the
hell is wrong with us people? We seem to be on our way to become so sectarian
and inflexible that we are irresponsibly willing to ignore and put aside – at
the first opportunity we have - one the most defining characteristic of who we
are: the 1st Amendment to the US Constitution (a.k.a. freedom of
speech)! It started out some years ago when, if you agreed with the doings of
certain political party you were a patriot; if you disagreed, you were
un-American… The latest installment consuming the National news is this: the
owner of a business expressed his personal opinion about a particular social
issue in a radio show; let me repeat: his personal opinion! What he did is done
daily by many others, as we all have the right to do, publicly and privately. Last
month, the President of the US publicly said that he supports gay marriage; last
week, a fast-food business owner publicly said he does not; so what? Now, and
because we may, or may not, agree with what the business owner said some of us
want to condemn and/or outcast him and his business; some of us want to
willfully castigate and punish him because we disagree with his opinion/position…
What are we, late 1940s USSR (Stalin’s Russia) or 1960s PRC (Mao’s China)? Sit
back; take a deep breath; look around and soak it in, and understand that, the
moment we punish anybody for expressing their opinion, we are encouraging
punishment upon us when we express ours. And we don’t want that!
I asked some weeks ago about opinions regarding the 2nd
amendment and the right to bear arms. I got several; here’s the summary: “There is a reasonable limit to everything. Possession
of weapons by civilians for purposes of hunting, sports, self defense are the
rights granted in the 2nd Amendment. Possession of Military-intended
weapons by civilians (whether they consider themselves, in a delusional way,
the state Militia or not), could not be wrapped inside the 2nd Amendment
envelope.”
It was Jan’s
birthday this past Thursday, August 2nd. She decided to take it easy
and we stayed indoors; I cooked her a nice dinner with a little bit of wine and
it all turned out just fine… I had bought a cake but she was too full; so we
decided to save it for Friday because Alex, her first born (and my 3rd
daughter) came to visit. We had some fine and quiet family time; ate cake, went
to the 127 yard sale (got good buys) and she left on Sunday… But before
leaving, she managed to lock her car keys inside the car… Called AAA at about
4PM; they showed up at bout 6PM; unlocked the car; and she was finally on her
way home, safe and sound!
Food for
thought:
Father: “Take the
plate and let it drop to the floor”. Son: “Are you sure?”
Father: “Yes… Did
it brake?” Son: “Yes.”
Father: “Now
apologize to it.” Son: “Apologize?”
Father: “Yes.” Son:
“OK; I did it.”
Father: “Is it like
before you dropped it?” Son: “No.”
Father: “Get it?”
So, think twice
before you speak (or write), my friends…
1 comment:
I hope you approve this comment :-)
I don't want anyone to have a gun who hasn't been trained in its use and who hasn't made a moral and legal commitment to his/her community to use it properly. Not sure how we could do that. Some sort of licensing and pledge, I guess, like I just made to renew my passport. But it's pretty clear that our current gun ownership policies and practices are inadequate.
Well-meaning, well-educated people disagree on the limits imposed by the Constitution. I'm also fairly confident that the intent of the founding fathers in this area presumed a more responsible and community-minded public than we can now claim. Better we make judgements based on today's societal needs and proclivities than on guesses of what may have been in the minds of people dead for 200 years.
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