The Risks of Not Smoking

In the scientifically advanced age that we live in there are many areas of knowledge which we as individuals may take advantage of to increase our own wellbeing. We have scientifically proven that using tobacco is harmful to our health. It causes cancer, heart disease, and a host of other health problems. It is wonderful that we know enough today to be able to choose based on proven things, how to be healthy. But out of this wonderful blessing, there has grown a problem. The problem is pertaining to this freedom of choice which is so wonderfully provided us. The same people who have rightfully informed us of these health risks are now trying – wrongfully – to tell us how to live our lives. The effort to ban smoking - a lawful practice – within private businesses, such as restaurants and bars is bent on taking away our freedom of choice. In a free society such as ours, people live the “American Dream” every day by starting their own businesses with the hope of success. The entrepreneurial spirit that is so evident in our great country is as strong and longstanding as it is because people have always been given a freedom of choice in how to run their businesses. If we take away their right to choose, we take away the American Dream, and give them instead mandated government control, telling them what is “wrong” and “right.”

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Why is it that many business owners choose to allow smoking in their establishments? It is simply because the people who patronize those businesses want it that way. It has always been this way in our country. The free market is the driving force, and because of its nature it will always be fair. If there is a substantial number of people who do not want to deal with secondhand smoke in the place they patronize (which there is), there will be a proportional number of bars and restaurants that do not allow smoking (which there is). Conversely, if there are people who would choose to be subjected to secondhand smoke, there will be bars and restaurants that cater to their wishes. After all, smoking is a legal activity. We are all free to choose whether or not to partake. It is the business owners right to choose whether or not to allow it. The free market will show that owner which way they should go. It is not the governments place to dictate that direction. If we use rule of law to ban smoking in these private places of business, we are only hurting ourselves: The free market will suffer and our right to make our own decisions will be compromised. So what comes next? After this will it be the government telling us which foods to eat? What kind of music to listen to? How to raise our children? After all, these too are personal choices that may be destructive. Let us all stand up and defend our beloved right to choose for ourselves. We choose where we work, we choose where we live, we choose where we eat our lunch, and we are all capable of choosing whether or not to eat and drink in a place that allows smoking. Let's exercise our right to choose, and keep this country the greatest country on earth!

Radio: A Sydicated Conspiracy

Let's talk about a necessary evil: Commercials. When listening to a radio talk show, commercials are something that every listener must deal with. You can try changing the station, but they all seem to go to break at the same time. It's an immense conspiracy I'm sure. But we can't change it, so we all cringe and focus our thoughts in another direction trying to ignore the fact that we're being pitched a way to "make money from home with nearly no work involved! And all you have to do is call this number... Now!" The irony lies in the fact that the show's last segment was about how to avoid these types of scams. Yet we all must recognize the necessity of these commercials. Radio is free, and we like it that way. Without commercials, there would be no free radio, that's just the facts.

Being especially annoyed with the commercials that seem to dominate the airwaves, today I decided to time the segment of the radio show, and then the following commercial break. The results were astounding to say the least. I have always known that the commercials are way too long and the show itself way too interrupted, but this was ridiculous. After a three minute commercial break, the show came on. The first thing that aired was fifteen seconds of some old and long forgotten song, and then the host began talking. He had barely introduced his topic when the background music signaling the next commercial break faded in. all in all... one and a half minutes. Next commercial break, Four minutes. Need I say more?

Why is it that the radio stations - mainly with syndicated shows - feel the need to deluge us with pointless and annoying commercial chatter? I'm convinced that it has something to do with the Monopoly that is syndicated radio. Because of these before mentioned conspiracies, we, as listeners of radio talk shows, are required to suffer through this seemingly endless torture to try and get some sort of ideas about the current political issues of the day, the best way to invest, or neat ideas about fixing up your house. After all, where else are you going to find useful information while cruising at seventy down the I-5? In short, all of us who choose to make a little bit of use out of a long drive must take the bad with the good. We must sacrifice, and succumb to the will of the machine. It is what we will live for, it is what we will die for. I guess that's just how bored I get on a long drive.

Who Ever Said Happiness is What We Should Strive For?

In recent weeks it has solemnly come to my attention that many people are dedicating their lives to "being happy." Why, you may ask? That, my friends, is what I am dedicated to finding out.

For too long, people have just "survived." They look at their lives as a very long and disturbing inconvenience. When thinking on the meaning of life they decide that, because they're so unhappy, the purpose of their existence must be simply to find a way to be happy, and then once this "way" has been found, proceed to be happy, and that's it. This method of thought has many flaws. It certainly creates a sense of "good enough is good enough for me" among the masses. The resulting aspiration of mediocrity surely becomes the most important and final aspiration in life.

To ensure that a misunderstanding does not occur at this point, I would like to point out that happiness is not a negative thing in and of itself. It is the ideal that happiness is the ultimate goal that is dangerous. Doesn't it seem logical that other things in life would be more inspiring, more educating, more emancipating, than happiness? When we view happiness in its proper roll we come to realize that it is simply a pleasant by-product of a personal progression towards one's valid ultimate goal.

So what is a valid ultimate goal? To give the example from my own life, learning is one answer. I have observed, through many experiences that brought me sadness, and many that brought me happiness, and many that made me neither happy nor sad, that satisfaction comes from experience. Experience is learning. Life, after all, is just one giant string of experiences. When we gain knowledge from each of these, progress, and move forward with our lives, we find ultimate satisfaction. Sometimes, it is the happy experiences that help us gain the most knowledge, sometimes it's the most difficult and extreme. Making a significant impact on society or raising a family would also be examples of a valid ultimate goal. Doesn't it seem logical that simply obtaining happiness, without satisfaction, would not be... well... satisfying? Let it be satisfaction we strive for, and happiness will follow.

Let's examine what exactly leads people to believe that happiness is what we should strive for. Some of the main factors are things that take place in many peoples day-to-day lives: Religion, welfare and class structure to name a few. These are things that have been completely integrated into the social system for thousands of years; they have been ingrained deeply into the minds of the people. Because of these systems, and the attitudes they propagate, people are either afraid or unable to take control of their own lives. When the church says "fear God!" and the welfare system says "you could never do it on your own" and the wealthy say to the poor, "you could never get to where I am" people believe them. It becomes a form of slave mentality. People don't believe that they'll ever obtain satisfaction from life, so they settle. As if trying to scramble an egg without breaking the shell, they fail.

All of this may sound troubling to you. You may ask: "What can we do?" Well, the only place to start is education. It doesn't even matter what we teach, or what people want to learn. The simple process of learning, gaining knowledge, will teach us all how to become the people that we want to be. It will show us how to recognize our potential, how to set our ultimate goal, ultimately achieve it, and move beyond it. By doing this, we will surely find our happiness, only now, we'll see this happiness simply as a pleasant by-product of striving for, and reaching our ultimate goal in life.

The Meaning of Life

In every short story, epic poem, or philosophical writing that we as society look at as "worthy" to study, we see the authors attempt to hide a "deeper meaning" somewhere, under the folds of phrases, eloquent language and illustrious ideals. It's not my purpose to discount the fact that these deeper meanings exist, nor that they are indeed profound; I simply would like to entertain the idea that the possibility exists in which a writing of note may not have some covert truth added in between the lines. Someday, when I write shorts for magazines such as Time I will make sure to have at least one writing in which there seems at first reading to be a deep intellectual philosophy backing up the intelligent phraseology that reeks in every paragraph. In truth the work will be supported by nothing more than a series of well propped up and disguised piles of shit.

So maybe we can apply this line of thought to life. How many times have we searched so diligently for the deeper meaning in this existence? how many times have we completely failed to even question whether a deeper meaning exists or not? Now, once again, I'm not going to try to discount the idea that this deeper meaning of life is present, I would simply like to entertain an idea for a moment, that this deeper meaning of life is simply a very large pile of horse-shit, dressed up in it's Sunday best to appease all the lonely and depressed people of the world. Unfortunately for my soon-to-be-outlived idea, Most of the people in this miserable place we call The World are somewhat lonely and depressed. It may be possible however to create one last blast of non-purpose if I can simply expose the non-purpose within many notable works from some pretty notable authors. Let's see how long it'll last before we fall back into our natural ways, trying to squeeze the tiniest drops of meaning out of every last idea.