The Sandra Bullock Trade

"Two things happened to Sandra Bullock this month. First, she won an Academy Award for best actress. Then came the news reports claiming that her husband is an adulterous jerk. So the philosophic question of the day is: Would you take that as a deal? Would you exchange a tremendous professional triumph for a severe personal blow?"

This is from the most popular article in the New York Times right now. David Brooks goes on to say, "Just as the old sages predicted, worldly success has shallow roots while interpersonal bonds permeate through and through."

Most of us pay attention to the wrong things--society emphasizes the wrong things. This sounds lame, but recently a lot of my friends have joined a group on Facebook called, "Money doesn't buy happiness, but I'd rather cry in a Ferrari." Even though everyone says money doesn't buy happiness, my generation in the back of their minds are saying, "Yeah, but money is what I want most anyway." This is because, as the op-ed said,

"Most people vastly overestimate the extent to which more money would improve our lives...Modern societies have an affinity for material concerns and a primordial fear of moral and social ones."

Thankfully, we don't have to conform with modern society. Just because schools prepare students to make good salaries and not good decisions, and the government emphasizes economic status and not moral status doesn't mean we have to be blind to what truly makes us happy. Boyd K. Packer wisely said in his talk "The Decision of Life,"

"Will we ever learn that the choice is not between fame and obscurity, nor is the choice between wealth and poverty. The choice is between good and evil, and that is a very different issue indeed. When we finally understand that, our happiness will not be determined by the material things, either on one hand or on the other. If we can be shown where the deciding pivotal choices are, we can succeed."

We can make a difference. (Click to read a corresponding blog post from last year.)

Faith

Obama Accomplishment For the Day

I must give an applaud: Obama signed an executive order today banning federal funding of abortions! Yea! I'm so very grateful for this.
Something else I learned today is that Obama has not kept his "sunlight before signing" campaign pledge. He said he would not sign any non-emergency bill without giving the public five days to let their voice be heard about it. Quote: "The public will have five days to look at every bill that lands on my desk.” Time after time he has signed bills without waiting the promised five days. Obamacare didn't even make it two.

Now, here is your real faith and hope for the day: CNN FINALLY GETS IT! Please watch this!




We can make a difference.

Faith

Unhealthy Heath Care Bill

Change you can believe in. Loose change that is, which is all you'll have after paying for the consequences of everyone else's choices.
For a while, Obama may get some praise from some, but soon the taxes will be soaring, and the news will be out that it took some corruption to get this bill passed, and Obama won't be the hero anymore. You see, you can't pass bills to increase your popularity. Maybe Obama should have thought less about making history and more about the wallets of his dear citizens. Maybe he shouldn't have gone through loopholes to pass a bill, but perhaps have done what he swore on the Bible to do--uphold the Constitution. Fancy that.

I will agree health care needs to change, and it is a very difficult problem to solve. I'm not sure what the right way is to tackle it. But, in what Mitt Romney aptly called "an unconscionable abuse of power," Obama once more took the Democratic route of denying consequences. Sure, he reformed health care like no other president has before, but is this a commendable feat? What it comes down to is not having consequences. We republicans like to be held accountable for our actions. Now, even if you live a healthy life, you will be paying taxes that will pay for the health consequences of your neighbor's smoking habit, his prescriptions, his spontaneous emergency room visits, and the consequences of other choices. Perhaps the most chilling aspect of the passing of the health care bill is that our tax dollars fund abortions. Can Obama's administration have been more cold towards the unborn than to pass a bill that makes it more affordable and easier to get an abortion? Abortion is NOT health care.

Consequences. Who needs 'em? Make someone else pay for those.

We can make a difference.

Faith

Health/Nut Obama

I'd like to inform you of two recent peices of news. They are not related, but I think you should hear about them at the same time.
Obama announced the Global Health Initiative in May of 2009. The new budget includes $63 billion over the next six to aid global public health. Being a public health major with a strong desire to educate internationally, I think this is a great priority the nation has. Having the great fountain of health knowledge that we do in the U.S., I believe it is our duty to share that valuable knowledge with others.
Second, Obama had his first physical since winning office. During election time, Obama had a reputation of a health nut. Whether or not the president is a health nut or not isn't important to me, but whether he is what he claims to be or not does matter to me. It matters quite a bit. Anyway, a couple days ago a White House Press Secretary explained he's not the healthy guy people think he is. He said, "You guys thought he, like, carried arugula in his pocket to snack on, and now all of a sudden he's ... breaking into my office looking for quarters for the vending machines." Apparently his own personal pastry chef (yes, who is paid by our tax dollars) has created many a temptation for the President. And he still smokes.

I'm just sharing two articles. One announces we need to spend $63 billion on promoting health to the world. The other explains he needs to take a smoking break and buy a hostess cupcake.

We can make a difference.

Faith