Back from the Dead

My keyboard died. I should say I wore out another one. Keyboards don't last around here.

I think it's time for a nice big belief statement. Lots of companies have them - why not people? These are MY beliefs. If you don't like them, write your own. I think by the time a person hits 30 years old they should have a pretty good idea of who they are and the things in which they believe.

1. No one has the right to criticize another's true beliefs. It's OK to disagree, but that doesn't make the person wrong.

2. Everyone should own and love a lap dog at some point in their life.

3. Cars are for driving. They have wheels. Phone booths were not equipped with wheels, therefore were not intended to be driven. Cars and phone booths are separate entities and should be treated as such. In other words, you cannot give your full mind to driving while carrying on a cell phone conversation. Don't do it. Furthermore, anyone seen using a cell phone while driving with kids in the car should be ticketed for child endangerment. Period.

4. Grammar and spelling are of the utmost importance.

5. No one making under $250,000 a year should have a credit card. No one making over that should need one. So why do we have them?

6. All high school students should be required to take one year of money management courses (budgeting, saving, investing, debt control, etc.)

7. Families should have dinner together at least 4 times a week.

8. The main focus of journalism should be to deliver the news. Don't censor it, don't slant it, and don't editorialize it. Just tell me everything that happened and I'll figure out the why and how. Also, NEWS programs should be used to report the NEWS. On most average morning news shows, for example, you get about 10 minutes of real hard news (out of 2 hours). You also get to see which bathing suit is best for your figure, what movies are being released soon, which celebrities are feuding, and the best way to cook fish. If I want to see all that other crap I'll watch a fashion show, Roger Ebert, Entertainment Tonight, and the Food Network. Why does it take a Gigantic News Event like 9/11 or Hurricane Katrina for the news shows to report NEWS?

9. Everyone should keep a diary.

10. If it's not yours, don't touch it. In fact, leave it alone.

11. Don't litter.

12. There are very very few good and valid excuses to be grossly obese.

13. Nothing lasts forever. Enjoy it while it does. If it isn't enjoyable, patiently wait until it ends and then find something enjoyable.

14. Love is good. No exceptions.

15. Raise the legal marriage age to at least 28. I think many divorces happen because people get married before they really know who they are. They're not even done evolving into the person they will become. Neither is the kid they're marrying. They get married, have a kid or two and then they finish growing up, and by the time they get to 30 neither of them like the person the other has become. So they divorce. Raise the marriage age by ten years and lower the divorce rate by at least half. Which leads into the next point:

16. A car is a huge purchase. You would not THINK of buying a car without taking it for a test-drive. How much more important is the aquisition of a spouse? They need to be test-driven too. Duh. Plus every man should be required to read at least one book about how to really get a woman off. Women, meanwhile, should be required to study how to let things go (things like the fact he forgot to take the trash out this morning, NOT things like your figure).

I have more ideas which will follow in days to come. I wouldn't want to overwhelm my gentle readers (both of you) on my first day back. Or break my new keyboard...