Don't Got a Greencard? Don't get a toy

I think it depends on where the gifts are coming from; what organization and depending on the associations to the children, like is it a government organization, charity, or religious organization? I can understand the firefighters or a government organization scrutinizing who the gifts go to, due to lack resources or funding and using citizenship as a 'filter.' What I do not understand why/how an international, charitable, and also strongly christian organization like the Salvation Army would turn anyone down, especially the children. Regardless of who is at fault.

Texas lacks education

Texas lacks proper health, sex, and physical education. Being ranked first among 50 states with the highest number of childhood pregnancies (Yikes!). Texas is the fifteenth most obese state and has the fourth highest rate of diagnosed diabetes. It is also the state with the highest number of uninsured and now the number one air polluter.

Texas public schools teach abstinence-only education, basically: “Don’t have sex.” That’s great and all but, its not working. Not only is it not working, but Texas is also the biggest spender in abstinence-only education while having the highest number of pregnant children and being very close to last in family planning.

Being that Texas has three of the ‘fattest’ cities, I was surprised to find that it did not rank higher among the states; though fifteenth place is nothing to be proud of. Lifestyle diseases are the top killers. If people took preventative measures and were taught at an early age to make better choices the overall outlook would be a lot more positive for them and the collective.

Something is lacking and educating with books is only part of the answer. A pragmatic education is needed to show students ways to implement healthy activities and help them make the right choices with incentives like free healthy lunches and positive reinforcement. It would need to also be an uncensored education that reveals the grim realities of poor choices over time.

Ideally the education would begin at home and as early as possible then continued through high school. College should also continue emphasizing health awareness but less so than prior education (College students should be treated like adults unless they prove themselves otherwise).

A Note On Political Correctness

Never knew who Glenn Beck was until watching the clip that the blog entry is based on. He rants for almost 10 minutes on the issue of political correctness, particularly in regard to Nidal Hasan. Beck states that the Obama Administration is uneasy about calling Hasan a Muslim terrorist while easily calling others who are non-violent, non-death-causing, “Terrorists.” Nobody knows exactly why the Administration chose not to use the word terrorist; it could easily have been to avoid creating more religious division.

Beck seems to go in and out of lucidity to make emotional, if not marred statements; though the issue of political correctness is not a minor one as it has the power to dissolve freedoms [in the name of an imaginary median]. Words and thoughts need to be frequently engaged from all sides. Hearing someone else’s perspective will only fortify the individual no matter how opposed.

Understanding that our freedom only goes so far as it does not interfere with the next person’s is key in this growing pluralistic world. Likewise understanding that other people or groups’ ideas no matter how dissimilar are equally valid. In an ideal world all people would make the effort to learn from those different from them in every aspect spiritually, physically, and emotionally. They would find that there are more similarities than there are differences and that the differences make the whole stronger.