Careful what you wish for

When we are kids we hear our parents say so many different catch phrases. As kids we think these catch phrases are bogus and invented to annoy us. However as I have grown up, I realized they're probably older than time and definetly have truth instilled in them. I'm going to start a series of blogs that examines these catch phrases and how they are effecting are lives. The first, I'm sure you guessed is "Careful what you wish for."

As a kid what you wish for is so simple - money, fame, a pony, a new bike - so being told to be careful is just plain silliness. How is a new bike going to hurt you after all? But in today's world if we're not careful we're going to get what the majority wishes for - and most of the time we're going to learn to regret it. I could start with government health care - but the only thing I'm going to say about that is most people complain about how corrupt and self serving our government is - do you really think that corrupt and self-serving people, with all the power of making laws for the "good" of the country, should be running your health care?

But instead of tearing down health care lets look at some of these laws that our government is helping to get passed. While this is not a law, it is a topic of discussion in Brooklyn, NY. (You will also notice that most outrageous laws in this country seem to have their beginnings in New York or California - go figure.) According to the New York Posta bunch of parents have become upset at the ice cream vendors walking through the park because they are upsetting their kids and the parents just can't handle their tantrums. Really? What is wrong with this picture? Hey, another catch phrase comes to mind - JUST SAY NO! It doesn't just apply to drugs, it should be in every parent's aresenal. I agree that tantrum's suck, but if you apply ground rules, you will see less of them. Case in point: When my daughter was younger, I took her to the almighty Wal-Mart and told her she could have one thing and gave her a money limit. She wanted two and threw a tantrum about it. So, I left my cart and took her home, getting her nothing. Was it annoying? Yes - I had to make an extra trip without her to get what I had come for. However, it paid off in the long run, she never threw a tantrum again in the store. So parents, you don't want the ice cream truck running through the park because you can't deal with tantrums - careful what you wish for - these kids are going to be your teenagers some day.

Along the same lines is the NY mayor wanting to ban soda drinks more than 16 oz. This is just the silliest idea I think I've heard in a long time. After all - what's going to stop a person from buying two 16 oz. drinks or getting free refills? Are 12 packs of pop going to banned? And when does it become an infringement on being human? Course they sight the obesity epidemic as the reason and that soda is a major cause of drinking countless calories, but honestly - careful what you wish for - next they will be telling you exactly what you can eat and drink all in the name of "health".

Though there are many "careful what you wish for" ideas out there, here is one of the most current ones to hit the headlines (and one of the most oldest). Gun control. Due to the shootings in Colorado, talks have been bantered around (again) about gun control and taking them out of the hands of people. There are tons of ways to talk both sides of the issues. But in the end there is one important thing to note - the desperate will find a way. Most of the guns used in mass shootings were not obtained legally. So putting restrictions on legal gun use is not going to take away the illegal guns used. It's a fact of life - most people that have teenagers can tell you, if there's a way - they can find it. Much like the terrorists found a way to drive four planes into the hearts of America. It can be further argued that if someone legally had a gun and legally carried it into the Colorado theater, they could have shot the perpetrator before he killed to many people. In the end we only have to look at what the Germans did to the Jews - they took away all their guns, (and lots of other things) before they impisoned them, so that when it came time for the Germans to imprison the Jews the Jews could not put up a fight. Careful what you wish for or we will be no better off than the Jews under Nazi control.