COLUMN: Granola for thought
Well, this is it folks – the end of the semester and the final bit of non-wisdom that is Granola Soup.
Thanks to the half dozen of you who get past the sports section and actually read the opinions and letters. Extra thanks to those of you who e-mailed to agree or disagree with anything I wrote.
Today’s column will cover a host of issues I was unable to discuss in previous columns. Due to space constraints, I’ll just touch upon each one briefly by offering my humble opinion and leaving the rest up to you.
Utah has a higher percentage of women on anti-depressants than any other state. This is surely due to the dominant patriarchal religion that touts the belief women are supposed to breed and serve their husbands rather than explore all of life’s possibilities.
And why do so many doctors prescribe the likes of Zoloft and Paxil and Prozac without first trying to get at the root of the problem? If doctors recommended therapy as often as they prescribed the newest mood-altering drugs then perhaps the masses of depressed and anxious people could make some positive changes in their lives rather than covering up their gloom with a chemical buzz.
Speaking of buzzes, why is it that medical marijuana is still illegal? Heck, why is recreational use illegal? Car crashes kill 50,000 Americans each year, yet no one suggests we outlaw cars (although that might be a good idea, at least in cities where mass transit is up and running). Millions of Americans are strung out on pharmaceutical drugs with horrible side effects, and thousands die every year from complications related to these drugs. Next time you read the fine print of a drug company advertisement, remember this: No one has ever died of a marijuana overdose.
Big ski area expansions are bad for local communities. Sure, the tax dollars will flow and there will be some jobs provided, but in the end the town is destroyed as million-dollar-log mansions fill up the hillsides and ranch land becomes condominiums. Eventually it becomes too expensive for the locals and they have to sell their family farm to a big city developer and move somewhere else. All this happened in my hometown in Colorado. Just say no to corporate skiing.
Logan sure could use some left turn lights, especially on Main Street. And if you drive the Canyon, then please slow down and enjoy the scenery. No need to put yourself and others’ lives in danger just to satisfy an infantile desire to go as fast as possible.
When Petsmart was built, the family-owned Noah’s Pets shut down. When Lowe’s and Home Depot opened, the downtown corner hardware store closed up for good. Support your local businesses lest they go out of business.
To all you agricultural sciences majors: Keep your stinking cows out of our Wilderness Areas. Cow pies in the headwaters of our mountain streams are a bad idea. We can all help by cutting down on our intake of red meat. One visit to the local slaughterhouse will help curb your addiction.
“War” is always a good excuse for tyrants to pull the wool over our eyes. Hitler talked a lot about “law and order,” and the only other countries to have an office of “homeland security” were the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany. Make no mistake, George Bush (and his puppeteers Dick Cheney and Exxon et al.) is a dictator in red, white and blue sheep’s clothing. Beware.
Country music died somewhere around 1980. Today’s country is a cross between disco and ’80s hair bands like Poison – a shadow of its former glory. Cowboy boots and cell phones are a bad combination. Let us honor the spirit of Waylon Jennings who died last February: “The devil made me do it the first time, second time I done it on my own.”
If you are a homegrown LDS Utahn then try to remember the rest of the world is much different than the one you grew up in. And if you’re one of the Mormon bashers who likes to ridicule the local religion, then please keep in mind Logan is one of the few places where you can still leave the keys in your car when you go shopping.
Enough said. Hope everyone has a swell summer. Recycle your beer cans and Mountain Dew bottles, leave your campsite cleaner than it was when you got there, turn off your television (better yet, throw it onto the garbage heap on the curb) and don’t be afraid to try something new. May the Force be with you.