Whenever I type that date, I hear dramatic background music — specifically, the four opening notes of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, dot-dot-dot-DASH… V for Victory, on D-Day.
Anyway, I don’t know when I’ll get a chance to write a new post today, so here’s an Open Thread. Have at it.
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It’s been 69 years since those troops landed on the shores of Normandy. Yet we still have this crap to deal with. Apparently folks are upset that a Cheerios ad featured an inter-racial family. Geez folks the POTUS is bi-racial. Then again maybe that’s what bugs some people.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/05/cheerios-ad-mixed-race-couple_n_3390520.html?utm_hp_ref=mostpopular
It’s high school graduation season. What would you tell your 18 year old self if you could go back in time?
1. When they invent Rogaine, jump on that immediately.
2. When the Red Sox are down 3-0 to the Yankees in 2004 ALCS, bet the farm on the Sox. Trust me.
3. You will one day have a wife and kids who will exceed all your expectations. Just wait for it.
4. Take more vacations
5. Go trademark the word Google
I’d tell my 18 year old self, “When you meet a girl named xxxxxxx, run”!! (Just in case xxxxxxx is reading I thought it best to leave than name a secret).
I was only 17. I’d tell myself to investigate education and career choices more. There are more choices besides Carolina or Clemson and teaching high school English or going to law school. There is guidance out there, and while not always good, more information is just that. Nothing to be scared of….
Also, daily exercise is worth making the time for.
And if you don’t care for the piano professor you got, try to find a teacher you do like!
In general, gather more information. Don’t just allow yourself to be channeled.
“Also, daily exercise is worth making the time for.”….Kathryn
Of all the comments posted recently, this is perhaps the one that makes the most salient point of all when it comes to our national health situation. If in our early years, our parents, teachers, and others who could influence our lives had placed an emphasis on exercise and healthy living, the need for a national health bill wouldn’t have been necessary and the proliferation of medical facilities and pharmaceutical firms would have been negated to a very large degree.
Over the years, on and off depending on the situation at the time, one of my goals has been to try to live a healthy life. I made the mistake as a young man to pick up a cigarette and didn’t put them down for the last time until 1994. Even during my smoking years, exercise of some kind was always important. When I was diagnosed with Type II diabetes, trying to take care of my body and at least paying some attention to a proper diet minimized the damage the disease can do.
Now, at my advanced age, and this is not boasting, it is my regular routine to walk on my treadmill at least 5 times a week, 2 – 3 miles at 3.5 to 4.0 mph on an incline of 7 on the treadmill. Then on to weight lifting, balance ball workout for the core, 60 to 90 sit-ups using a Bosu ball to avoid damage to my back, and several other exercises that provides a full body workout. As a result, my blood sugar stays at regular levels, chlosterol at regular levels, blood pressure around 110-70 most of the time, and a pulse rate between 65 & 75.
We try to maintain a balanced diet along with several supplements from a excellent source and as a result, while my wife has some genetic health problems, my health continues to maintain and in many ways, improve.
If we take care of our bodies and mind when we are young and continue to do so as we age, in the end, it will provide dividends that will pay off when you get older and lessen the chances that you will become a financial burden on yourself, your family, and the taxpayer.
I may not agree with Michelle Obama on her political ideology but she is making a difference when it comes to taking the message to children about the necessity to choose healthy foods and exercise. For her efforts, she should be praised and applauded. But, in the end, it should be up to the individual to make the choice, not at the dictate of the government.
All I’d have to say is, “Would you like to trade places for 24 hours?”
It would be great just to spend a day feeling 17 again. Also, it would mean I was in Hawaii.
So would the 17-year-old Brad take that deal?
You’re good enough; you’re smart enough; and doggone it, people like you. Or they don’t. Either way, what others think of you is none of your business. It isn’t about you.
Bart,
My mom was great about healthy eating, as she understood it. Scratch-made everything, and lots of vegetables. Portions were too large, but who knew?
Exercise was not at all the thing for girls. Thank goodness for Title IX, and the popularization of non-sports exercise for the physically retarded among us!
I hope young people are getting more education about mental health now. When I went to Thomson Student Health Center complaining of extreme exhaustion, they decided it was some viral blood infection. I am sure it was depression, which runs in my family. Ditto anxiety. How many young people could have been saved a lot of wasted time if mental health was treated the same as physical? Would surely lower a lot of health care expenses!
Amen to all Kathryn, especially the mother who believed in real food . And added thanks to those who pulled my father’s unit out of the Dday mix at the last minute: it’s been a good life.
Alas, there is no single good habit that will do the complete job of protecting your health. My mother was a wonderful cook, but when we kids went off to college, she still cooked the same quantities. Also, she never learned the benefits of exercise, so she was always plagued by high blood pressure – which eventually led to three strokes.
I’d tell my 17-year-old self, Kid, you’re going to have a good life. Enjoy it.
And when you are almost 29, and magazines are saying you are more likely to be killed in a terrorist attack than get married, don’t listen. You will meet a moderately tall, moderately dark stranger, well, the brother of your boss, and you will live happily ever after.
In fact, stop reading magazines other than The New Yorker and Consumer Reports. Most exist to sell you things, by making you feel less than.
This would have been helpful.
http://harvardmagazine.com/2008/06/the-fringe-benefits-failure-the-importance-imagination
Be audacious. And a good listener. Good and bad, every experience is a lesson. Learn from them and put them to use.
The Audacity of Hope?
Nice though!