MY OPINION COLUMN

"Celebrate life while you have it!"
What a very special miracle it is to be ME. Out of all of the people on the earth (past, current, and future), I am me. Nobody else is me and I am nobody else. Just the fact that I get to exist, to be me, is truly overwhelming.

Without going into the debate of how it got to be, think about the fact that the human body provides us with the ability to exist, to be here. We are born with many basic functions built in and the ability to learn more as we go. The body even maintains itself pretty good without us even having to think about breathing, heartbeats, or all the many tasks needed to keep us going.

The package is not perfect though. There are so many complicated things that must work right in order for the body to exist, it really should not be surprising that something can go wrong. In fact, I am truly amazed that it can even operate at all.

Perhaps the best plan would be to use what we have during the time that we have it. The human body is not perfect. Any number of physical, chemical, and mental conditions can occur if even minor things are out of place. I have never met anybody who asked for a diseased or damaged body to live their life in. In fact, people seem to desire a cure or solution to these conditions. This brings me to the opinion part of this topic.

I have a great deal of compassion for people who must deal with huge obstacles in life. A lot of times it is hard to deal with my own situation, but I have witnessed others with far worse than what I must face. I do not know that I would handle some of the issues that others do. However, people have said the same to me about my vision problems.

I have even more feelings of sorrow for people who look down on others who have any of these conditions. Whether they be school children that pick on classmates, adults that avoid contact, or businesses that do not see beyond the outward signs during the hiring stage. Not all of the flaws of the human body show themselves on the outside. I would rather have vision problems than a cold attitude toward my fellow human. Some of the most caring people I have met in life are those who have had the biggest hurdles to cross also.

What most people want is to be accepted and treated as a normal, living, human being. Just to exist with everybody else in a civil manner rather than being set aside due to something completely out of their control. It looks right in print, it sounds right when we hear it, but it is so often denied in reality. A waste of a miracle.

There are some people so caught up in perfection that they do not have a kind attitude toward others. Nobody is worth much to them unless wearing pressed clothes, styled hair, manicured nails, or loaded with makeup and perfume. Teenagers worry their boy/girlfriend might not like them anymore because they have a pimple, as if true love revolves around a slight blemish on the face. I truly feel blessed I cannot see whether somebodys hair is combed or not and I would not care about a pimple even if I could see it. I do recognize attitude and actions though, and consider myself fortunate to be able to focus on that when considering others.

I also have feelings of sorrow for people who look down on others for what are not even flaws in the human body but differences from their own set of standards. Different skin color or place of origin seems to matter more than the fact that the miracle of life is still at work. Americans consider others as foreigners, yet I learned in school that America was discovered in 1492. Seems to me that many of our ancestors came here from elsewhere at one time. Pretty strange to now feel that others are "different". Stranger still to find fault with them for things they cannot change, where they were born, what language they were taught, and what color their skin is.

I feel sorrow for people who do not seem to realize that things beside flaws of the body play an important role in this life. Life situations create a whole set of circumstances that effect us. Parents that fight more over who gets the family car in the divorce than what happens to the kids. Siblings that disown each other because of something as trivial as a $100 loan that never got fully paid off. Hit and run drivers cause accidents and leave without the courtesy to see if the other people might need medical attention. Shootings occur over such trivial things as somebody being cut off in traffic or in a gangs territory. More sorrow is felt for the victims who do not deserve the result of the actions of others.

I also have sorrow for those who do not realize what a wonderful gift this miracle of life is to them. Some throw away the life by using substances to feel good which actually hurt the bodies ability to survive. Some focus so hard on what bad things happen that they cannot enjoy the good things when they occur. Others seem too intend on doing harm rather than putting their efforts into doing good. Many gather up as many material items as they can and neglect the life they already possess.

For me, there is a great feeling of satisfaction that exists when I get to help somebody else to have a better time in their life. There are a lot of good people in this world. They come in all sorts of different packages. Get to know the person inside of the body instead of just looking at the outside presentation for judgement.

My biggest compassion though is for those people who want to live life to the fullest but are prevented from doing so by weakness of the body or mind. It is sad to witness people not use their life when they can but even sadder for those who want to use it and cannot!

We live in what is often called the communications age. We are bombarded by mail, email, phone calls, news reports, and what passes for entertainment. Unfortunately, most people see stuff and react without considering that it might not be valid. Most of these look real or deal with an emotionally based issue that people would care deeply about. So they send it to many people, who in turn send it to others, who do the same, etc. What we end up with is items now coming from trusted sources (friends) which are simply assumed to be valid considering who sent them and NOT considering the original source.

The internet (includes email) is NOT a secure environment. Material is NOT always legitimate. Nothing is in place to verify data as it flows around the world. Know this and remember it! This applies to any media (TV, newspaper, phone, etc). Do not believe everything you encounter.

Financial institutions do not (should not) conduct sensitive interaction via email or mail and usually only over the phone if you have authorized them to do so. Yet people respond to email requests for their login and account information when they get an "security alert". These are NOT from the real business, DO NOT RESPOND and DO NOT FORWARD to your friends! Notify the authorities!

Emails about sick kids needing a card, pets that need homes, and other such matters that tug at your heart should be investigated before any action is taken. Do NOT investigate by visiting some website included in the email. Any legitimate organizations will have their own website that you can get to through a search engine. Chances are the website the email links to is NOT the real organizations website but will be designed to look like it.

If it sounds to good to be true, it probably is NOT true. If it is a very serious situation, telling people via email is NOT the best way to solve it. If there is a request for ANY personal information, it is most likely a scam. Most ISPs (Internet Service Provider) have a place that you can send such emails to them to report as bad. Consult your ISP and USE IT. Then delete the email without sending it to your contacts.

I use a better method. If I do not recognize the sender or the subject is strange (or empty), I delete it without even opening it. Probably the safest thing to do is not even look at it.

These are not just opinions. These are actual proven facts that for whatever reason people just cannot seem to accept and do something about.

Cigarette smoking is banned in many public places due to the health hazard of second hand smoke. My mom smoked for many years and the cause of death is related to it. Smoking affects the person doing it much more than the people around them. However, I can accept the bans because there are many people with breathing problems who would be affected by the smoke. As long as cigarettes are legal, I respect the right of others to do it as long as they respect the rights of people who do not want to be negatively impacted by their choice. I believe this to be a personal choice and do not hold it against anybody who does smoke. Even so, I think the delivery system is very wasteful and the price very costly. That in itself would deter me.

People under the influence of alcohol injure or kill more innocent victims then cigarettes do. Alcohol is PROVEN to impair judgment and inhibitions.

Please do not just believe my word. Ask your local police about the facts of alcohol related police calls and the statistics at DUI checkpoints. Get informed about how many marriages have been broken up by alcohol. Ask colleges about their experience with massive student parties and protests that turn to riots fueled by alcohol consumption. If you think I am wrong, prove it to me.

This is not to say that the consumption of alcohol should be illegal. But while it is legal, I can accept the person who drinks if they do it without impacting others rights. I have no problem with those who consume alcohol in moderation, like a glass of beer with dinner and such. Each person knows (or should) how much is too much. If they cannot control the limits, then it is obvious that the alcohol controls them and that is where a problem occurs.

I personally think that fines for drunk driving should be raised much higher than already exist. It is a serious concern and it is also long since been stated that certain limits are in effect.

Drunk drivers should also lose their vehicle. They have proven they cannot handle the responsibility. Community service should be the alternative to jail time. Make these people serve time in hospitals around people injured by others and witness what families go through when loved ones are hurt or lost to drunk drivers. Jail does little or nothing to teach about the real effects on others that is done on an all too frequent basis by such a senseless activity.

Since whenever the concept of "marriage" started, it has been defined as a ceremony to join a man (male gender) and woman (female gender) into a legally recognized relationship. Quite literally billions of people fall under this realm (includes living and deceased people).

In modern society there is a push to change the very definition of marriage to INCLUDE those whose relationship would be of the same gender. The stated goal is to allow the same legal rights for people in a same gender relationship as those in a traditional legally recognized marrige.

Here again I go back to my main belief that people have the rights to do most anything they want SO LONG AS IT DOES NOT HAVE A NEGATIVE IMPACT ON OTHER PEOPLES RIGHTS. Changing the definition of marriage yields a drastic impact to the billions of people qualified for the scientifically proven "natural" relationship, which in this context does include the act of sexual intercourse.

In my opinion there exists a very simple solution to this heated debate. If the goal is that people in a same gender relationship want to have a legally recognized relationship, then go through the process. Get a legal term (I do not know if one exists already or not) to define it, then apply for the laws (state and federal) to be amended to cover BOTH marriage and the newly defined term also. It works to give rights to a different class of people WITHOUT changing the meaning of marriage for the billions of people who did it the natural way.

For those who will yelp at me for discrimination for wanting same gender relationships to be in a different classification, just get over it. Truth is there IS a difference. I have never felt that being homosexual means the person has any less worth, just a different lifestyle. I know several homosexual people and do not treat them any differently because of that fact. Those who do have to answer for their own opinion.

If same gender relationships are legally recognized (with its own terminology) and those couples obtain the same rights as those whom are married, I have no issue with that. I DO have an issue with changing the definition of marriage though because it DOES diminish the qualification of the natural family!

Advertising (ads) is a way for businesses to encourage people to purchase from them. I do not hate the fact that ads exist, they are a valuable tool to inform us of something that we might be interested in. What I dislike is how most ads are presented now. That is the focus of this segment.

It seems logical to me that an ad would get me to respect the product or company. Listed below are the practices that do the opposite, they make me avoid products and companies.

The biggest offenses are in TV ads. This is possibly due to the fact the reader has control over the flow of newspaper/magazine space. It is easy to simply skim over the ad in print. In order to skip a Radio or TV ad you have to change the station or mute the volume, but the content you really wanted is still interrupted. TV ads are just the worst because they combine audio and video.

My problem here is that I constantly hear people talk about wanting a better America, yet few people seems to care that MOST ads make false or misleading statements, they are accepted because they are cute or funny. Just remember folks, you get what they give you until YOU stand up against it!

Are you ready to view ads in a whole new way? Lets investigate the bad practices:

• Inappropriate slogan/logo/song
  

  Slogans or logos that either have nothing to do with the product/service, are untrue, misleading, or do not fit the true usage.

  Titles (company name or website address) that are untrue or misleading. Such as using the word FREE when in reality it is not.

  Part of a song (such as one line or phrase) used to make a point, while the whole song actually means something different. As a side note, you probably do not realize how much is paid to use those small clips.

• Display of bad or illegal activity
  

  Showing or telling us to do what everything we know tells us we should NOT do. We have multiple automobile ads which show bad driving practices, just plain illegal incidents, or things people would (hopefully) be unlikely to do with a vehicle.

• Rude or stupid people
  

  People either selling or using the product or service being rude to others or portrayed as being dumb. If that is how the company feels about their employees or customers, I will gladly take my business elsewhere!

• The wrong people
  

  Such as the use of thin models used to promote diet items and physically fit models to promote fitness products. If you really believe that the models went through the diet or fitness routine, you will believe anything.

• Animals as spokespeople
  

  Do animals really speak English? Even if animals did, that alone would not qualify them to sell me products. People tell me they think many of these ads are cute or entertaining. Cute and entertaining does NOT inform us of the product, and it is also NOT REAL!

  In reality animals do not use toilet paper, know anything about automobiles or insurance, or so many other things they are portrayed as being experts about.

• Non-life forms as spokespeople
  

  If by some stretch of my imagination I could accept a talking animal, it is beyond my limits to accept that an animated character would know anything about a product or service. Basically anything imaginary in an ad is going to make me treat the company as my imagination too.

• Unfair or biased comparisons
  

  Such as using comparisons in creative, yet very biased, ways or compare their extra strength product to a competitors regular strength product. Also like a fruit juice snack that has absolutely NO real fruit juice in it.

• False claims and images
  

  Have you ever gone to a restaurant and had your meal look like those pictured on the ads? There are also many claims where products do certain things, but have specifications that are not usually in play....have you ever really needed to use a vacumn cleaner to pick up a bowling ball?

• Fine print proving the ad wrong
  

  What the ad promotes is disclaimed in tiny print flashed or spoken quickly. Such as not everybody will qualify, you have to purchase a membership, or there are many conditions. Also watch for the Introductory price game, which may include a term contract length or service (package deals) that has to be met. Just as bad is the phrase As low as, which tells me that the thing you would really want is going to be much more expensive!

• Promotion outweighs content
  

  TV and radio stations are spending more time telling you about shows that will be on later and that takes away from the time the current show has to air. Challenge: use a stopwatch to time your programs actual run time. Then time the promos for the network or other shows. Do the math and see for yourself.

  Then there are the spots for what is coming up on the news. These are usually deceptive about the actual story. I have done the math and figured out that a few more news stories could be done if they were not always telling me what is coming up.

Using these bad practices makes me feel like the company does not respect their own product OR respect the viewer. If they cannot speak about the product without the bad practices then why should I support them with my business?

It is time to stop just accepting this nonsense and start voicing our opinion for truth and real information. Share comments (good and bad alike) with businesses you visit. Call or write the companies that make the products you use and share your thoughts. If everybody individually does this at least somewhat, companies WILL get a message.

Daytime TV "counseling shows" includes shows like Jerry Springer with all out brawls, profanity and nudity. These shows claim to attempt helping people sort out or solve their problems, but this type of method can only fuel the flames more. That is unless beating the tar out of somebody somehow improves their respect for your opinion. Physical assault is a CRIME and should NOT be condoned on a TV show! There are many other shows that display the wrong way to properly handle disputes between two people.

This might be a trend though. We also have a chef who screams at people about everything instead of guiding them through a positive learning experience.

Many sitcoms and most "reality" shows display very bad behavior as acceptable and common interaction. I am told this is entertaining, but to me it is just display of negative interaction.