jus' writin' life

The Hardest Thing You'll Ever Live

Someone once said that life is the hardest thing you'll ever live. I remember that statement being met with the response: life is the longest thing you'll ever live. I'm not sure who first said the former, or where the person got it from that repeated it to me, but whoever was first is deserving of the Insight of a Lifetime Award. 

Life is hard. Damn hard. I've even shared with my children how hard life can be, because I don't want them to grow up believing that everything will always come to them like it appears to do now. For them, dinner is a given, shoes that fit are given, clothes that aren't busted up are a given, bicycles, skates, Wii consoles, toothpaste, and the list continues. I want them to know that all those provisions took time, effort and money on somebody's part. That there aren't any magicians living in our home and that, in reality, magic ain't real.

Bottled or Tap?

The latest on the bottled versus tap debate has certain questionable groups championing tap water, despite the fact that the majority of U.S. tap water contains fluoride and other harmful chemicals. Bottled water, depending on the bottler, may also contain some of these contaminants but, really, outside of setting up our own filtration systems—which can be cost-prohibitive for some—what choices do many of us have?

My skepticism radar has been raised to high alert lately about the big push toward tap water. Even CDC recently released a study admitting that fluoride is dangerous and causes IQ problems in children, along with higher incidences of dental fluorosis. Their recommendation was the lowering of fluoride in the water system.

Me No Wanna Change

Nothing is impossible; however, some things are improbable. -- Montu 

It's always easier for people to dismiss what you say by convincing themselves you're nuts, unhappy, militant, angry--which to many of them is the same as militant--and a boatload of other buzzwords they've seen and heard in the media. But the truth of the matter is that it takes a person with aspects of those and a whole lot more to speak truth in a world besieged by lies, especially when history proves that the messenger is usually the one that's shot.