WHY REMEMBER A TRAGIC EVENT?

          It is sometimes very difficult to swim against the tide, but in view of the endless commemorative events surrounding 9/11, I just have to express my views.  It was way too much, so I just turned off the radio and TV to give it a rest.  Then I watched the Central Missouri Mules and then the Kansas City Chiefs and went back to all the 9/11 recaps to get some relief from those two disasters.

           These “events” have caused me to wonder why we, as a nation, can get so wrapped up around a theme of “Let us never forget,” that we forget what is going on around us.

          All of this raises many questions:

1.     Although a tragedy of great magnitude, why did the victims of 9/11 receive remunerations in the millions of dollars?  They were simply people who were going to work to earn a living and who became the tragic victims of a terrorist attack.  Will this be the norm for future terrorist attacks?

2.     Why are we still in Afghanistan?  To me, we should be out of there now and leave that country to the natives.

3.     What are we doing about the families of the service men and women who were killed or wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan?  Are their families receiving financial support based on the potential earnings of those who were killed in action?

4.     Shouldn’t we devote more attention to those under-privileged folks in our own country instead of spending billions of dollars on foreign aide?

          Personally, I prefer to “commemorate” dates that remind me of happy and joyful times.  It was on September 11, 1948, when I asked Jean Buroker, a cute campus editor on The Indiana Daily Student, to marry me.  We now have been married more than 60 years, and she still corrects me.  According to her, I asked her to marry me on September 10 and not September 11.   I think she just doesn’t want anything to do with the 11^th.

                                               

                                                                                                                   

LET'S REGULATE CELL PHONES

           .  What I am about to propose may raise the ire of those ardent free speech amendment addicts who claim an inalienable right to speak freely whenever and however they please.  Like the NRA on gun control, this issue relates directly to protecting our inalienable rights under the constitution. 

          I support the free speech part of the constitution.  But, I have some strong feelings about the use of cell phones to exercise that right.

          This morning, on my way to my morning coffee club, I was closely followed by a young lady who was steering her car with her elbows while she was sending text messages via her cell phone.  She seemed to be punching out messages with her thumbs!

          I assumed that women cell phone users caused more accidents than men, and my reasoning was simple.   Men have an advantage.  Most of us learned to drive with one hand while we were still in high school.  But texting?  Give me a break!

          While we have a driver’s license that authorizes us to drive a car, it does not give us the right to drive 80 miles an hour through downtown Warrensburg.   It’s the same principle with cell phones.  While we have the right of free speech, it doesn’t give us the right to talk on our cell phones while we are driving a car on city streets or highways.  Why?  Because it is dangerous, mostly to those who aren’t even in your car!

          I propose that the same penalties for speeding, reckless driving, or driving under the influence, be applied to those idiots who have to stay in constant touch with both their friends while driving a motor vehicle of any kind.  And if a driver is using a cell phone and there is an accident, the cell phone user is automatically at fault.

          Perhaps the Missouri legislature could spend a little time on laws affecting safety instead of wasting their time trying to legislate morality.

          Incidentally, when I got to my morning coffee club, there were four women at the table next to us who were texting each other!  While a bit odd, in my book, that would be legal since they weren’t driving.