What Are You Waiting For?

Have you ever seen a movie that moved slowly or was somewhat boring, was pretty predictable or had a lackluster plot, had little to no action or didn't have much to look at, had acting that left a lot to be desired, had a flat dialog, or for all intents and purposes on an artistic scale you would give it a very low rating, but for some reason you still liked the movie? Sometimes the story is bigger than the movie. Sometimes the art form is uninspiring, but the message is very inspiring. I recently saw a movie like that (OK, it didn't have all those bad traits.)

The movie was "based on a true story." Unlike most movies with that subtitle, this one did not seem to veer far from reality much at all. Maybe that's why it didn't make for an exciting movie; real lives aren't like the movies.

Of course some celebrity lives are presented to us as never-ending dramas. This week three big celebrities passed away. Up until the very end of their lives they always seemed to give the media fodder for a story. However you personally felt about the way they lived their lives, hopefully in some way they touched your life for the better.

That's what made the aforementioned movie worth watching: it was about a man who made other lives better. He started out a frustrated and angry person, but then had a life-changing experience. He now goes around the world on speaking engagements telling his story and trying to lift others. He and his wife established and run an orphanage in Africa for children whose lives have been affected by HIV/AIDS (lost parents to it, have it themselves, etc.) He hasn't touched millions of lives (yet) like those three celebrities, but he has touched thousands. He mentions in the extra footage on the DVD that we don't have to touch millions of lives, we just need to start where we're at. That's exactly what he did. He didn't start out to change the world, he started out to change himself.

Everyone's sphere of influence is different. But even if you can influence just one person's life for the better, you've accomplished something remarkable, even if that one person is you. So pay it forward, do a random act of kindness, be a good Samaritan, perform unselfish service, pick up the phone and call an old friend, etc. It doesn't have to be grand or spectacular or exciting. Don't worry about how big or small the act is. Most often it's the small acts that mean the most anyway. Whatever it is, whatever it takes, just do it and do it now.

So . . . what are you waiting for?

Legalize and Legitimize

It's legal, so there must not be anything wrong with it, right? That's the problem with legalizing anything, people begin to believe there's nothing wrong with it just because it's legal. But there are many things that are legal which result in scourges on society, especially those things that result in addictions. If Prohibition had never been repealed would we have the high rates of alcoholism we experience today? What about gambling addictions? And pornography, would there be so much heartache and so many broken homes if it were illegal and harder to get a hold of?

To illustrate, let's take a look at abortion rates in the United States before abortion for convenience was legalized in 1973. For the three years before it was legalized (as far back as I could find on the CDC website) the ratio (number of abortions per 1,000 live births) ranged from 52 to 180. Since 1974 (first full year of convenient abortions) the rate has ranged from 238 to 364 (Note: The last year of the report is 2004). That's more than double. I guess twice as many people were convinced that since it's legal it must be OK now.

Many people are crying to legalize currently illegal drugs, more particularly marijuana. Do we want drug usage to double? Triple ... or go even higher? Do we want more people out there not thinking straight? Many argue that we're causing worse crimes because we're actually creating drug lords by keeping these drugs illegal rather than allowing drug lords to become "legitimate" businessmen. What? Are we creating thieves by having crimes against theft? Should we turn robbery into a "legitimate" business? Do we create murderers by having laws against murder? What kind of ridiculous argument is that? We don't force anyone to do something wrong just by making an act illegal. They choose to do something wrong whether it's legal or not. (Remember, making it legal doesn't make it right.) Others argue that it's too hard to police drug use. If theft or murder were too hard to police, should we stop making those acts illegal?

Should we get rid of any law because we don't have enough backbone, because it's just too hard on us to do the right thing? If fighting against what's wrong is not working well enough or we don't like handling it because it's too inconvenient; those just aren't legitimate excuses to give up and make anything legal.

The inconvenient truth here is that to legalize is to legitimize. Let's not legitimize any more scourges on society. In fact, why don't we get rid of the legal monsters we've already created?