An Essay on Youth

A man named Samuel Ullman wrote a short essay titled “Youth” more than 70 years ago. The message still rings true today:

"Youth is not a time of life; it is a state of mind. It is not a matter of rosy cheeks, red lips and supple knees; it is a matter of the will, a quality of the imagination, a vigor of the emotions; it is the freshness of deep springs of life.

Youth means temperamental predominance of courage over timidity, of the appetite for adventure over the love of ease. This often exists in a man of 60 more than in a boy of 20. Nobody grows older merely by a number of years. We grow older by deserting our ideals.

Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul. Worry, fear, self-distrust bow the heart and turn the spirit back to dust.

Whether 60 or 16, there is in every human being’s heart the lure of wonder, the unfailing childlike appetite of what’s next, and the joy of the game of living.

In the center of your heart and my heart there is a wireless station; so long as it receives messages of beauty, hope, courage and power from man and from the Infinite, so long are you young."

How “young” are you?

Getting Ready For School

Earlier this month, I read a newspaper article about some local mothers getting their daughters ready for the first day of public elementary school. The article mentioned some mothers who had taken their daughters to the Kids Hair Salon to get a new hairdo to start off the school year. The article also was accompanied by a picture of a seven-year-old second grader who looked more like a teenager with her carefully coiffed hairstyle, her lipstick, and her expensive designer dress. It is possible that she was even wearing eye makeup. I can just picture a scene in which some fellow students would ask the young lady to swing on the monkey bars at recess and she would reply, “I would love to, but I don’t want to mess up my hairdo.”

Mothers, save the hairstyling, lipstick , eye makeup, and designer dresses for much later; dress the girls in jeans, and tell them to go out and play in the dirt.

It Takes One To Know One

Are our federal lawmakers guilty of selective morality? Or might one call it political morality?

In July of this year a Republican Senator, David Vitter of Louisiana , the man who in 1998 suggested that Clinton should be impeached and removed from office because he was morally unfit to govern, acknowledged that his telephone number was among those associated with an escort service, clearly a prostitution operation run by the so-called “D.C. Madam.”

Telephone records showed that the service called Senator Vitter's number five times from 1999 to 2001, while he was a U.S. House member. He had talked with prostitutes while sitting in the House of Representatives. We should remember at this point that some of the Republicans calling for the impeachment of President Clinton in 1998 said it was not so much for the sex act that was performed, but where it was performed - in the Oval Office. He had, they said, profaned the Oval Office. Then I suppose one could say that Senator Vitter likewise had profaned the House of Representatives by taking calls from prostitutes there.

Then the news broke in late August that Republican Senator Larry Craig of Idaho, now known as the “Spud Stud” was arrested at a Minnesota airport in June, just a month before the news about Vitter emerged, by a plainclothes police officer investigating lewd conduct complaints in a men's public restroom. The Senator said it was the result of a mistake. Craig stated “that he has a wide stance when going to the bathroom and that his foot may have touched mine,” the sting officer’s report states. Craig also told the arresting officer that he reached down with his right hand to pick up a piece of paper that was on the floor. He also tapped his feet. All three of these actions are signals used by gay men to indicate interest in sexual contact with the man in the adjoining stall. “It should be noted that there was not a piece of paper on the bathroom floor, nor did Craig pick up a piece of paper,” the arresting officer said in the report.

On Aug. 8, Craig pleaded guilty to misdemeanor disorderly conduct. He paid more than $500 in fines and fees, and a 10-day jail sentence was stayed.

Senator Craig had made a name for himself in the Senate by opposing legislation on gay rights. He had voted against same-sex marriage and spoken out against homosexuals serving in the military. His hypocrisy was noted by many gay men and women.

Three Republican lawmakers, including Sen. John McCain, CALLED ON CRAIG TO RESIGN. Their statements CAME A DAY AFTER CRAIG MADE HIS FIRST PUBLIC STATEMENT about pleading guilty to a disorderly conduct charge relating to allegations the Idaho Republican solicited sex in a Minneapolis airport bathroom. "I believe that he pleaded guilty, and he had the opportunity to plead innocent," said McCain, of Arizona. "So, I think HE SHOULD RESIGN. My opinion is that WHEN YOU PLEAD GUILTY TO A CRIME, YOU SHOULDN’T SERVE.”

"Sen. Craig pled guilty to a crime INVOLVING CONDUCT UNBECOMING TO A SENATOR. HE SHOULD RESIGN,” said Minnesota Republican Sen. Norm Coleman.

Republican Rep. Pete Hoekstra of Michigan added: "The voters of Idaho elected Sen. Craig to represent their state and will decide his future in 2008 SHOULD HE FAIL TO RESIGN.

"However, he also represents the Republican party, and I believe HE SHOULD STEP DOWN, as his CONDUCT throughout this matter has been INAPPROPRIATE FOR AS U.S. SENATOR."

The question is why did these Republican lawmakers come out and ask Senator Craig to resign for his escapade in the restroom at the airport while not calling for the resignation of Senator Vitter, who still retains his seat, for his moral stain on the lawmaking bodies? Could it be that these Senators are more sympathetic to other lawmakers who consort with prostitutes because they understand prostitution better than they do gay liaisons? After all, it appears that members of the lawmaking bodies have more in common with prostitutes than they do with gays. Prostitutes sell their bodies for money; lawmakers sell their votes for money.

Are You a Blogging Addict?

Blogging Addiction Disorder (BAD), which refers to the malady of devoting an excessive amount of time to blogging, is another type of obsessive addiction that has invaded the human psyche. Like all addictions, such as alcoholism, smoking, gambling, pornography, and so on, BAD is a pathological disorder in which individuals, in this case, turn to blogging in an attempt to change mood, to overcome anxiety, to deal with depression, to reduce isolation or loneliness, or to distract themselves from overwhelming problems.

There are two types of addiction: positive and negative. If you are devoted to a hobby and try to spend as much time as possible pursuing it - this could be an outlet for learning, creativity, and self-expression. Thus, in this case it is a positive addiction. But in a truly pathological or negative addiction, the bad outweighs the good, resulting in serious disturbances in one’s ability to function in the real world.

How does one know whether he or she is suffering from Blogging Addiction Disorder(BAD)?

1. Do you feel preoccupied with blogging?
2. Do you feel a need to spend more time in blogging to achieve satisfaction?
3. Do you feel irritable, restless, or depressed when you are not blogging?
4. Do you blog to escape problems or to relieve feelings of helplessness, guilt, anxiety, or depression?
5. Does blogging interfere with your personal life and career?
6. Have you changed your lifestyle in order to blog?
7. Have you decreased your physical activity in order to blog?
8. Are you sleep deprived in order to engage in more blogging?
9. Are you neglecting family and friends in order to blog?
10.When you get up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night, do you check your e-mail to see whether other bloggers have posted or whether you have new messages from fellow bloggers?

If you replied in the affirmative to two questions you may have a slight case of BAD. If you said yes to three questions, there is a good chance you do have a significant problem with BAD. If you answered yes to four or more questions, you are demonstrating a pattern of behavior which would suggest that you have a serious problem with BAD.

On a lighter note, people who answer “YES” to any one of these questions about BAD should immediately request help from a professional counselor:

1. On a plane trip, do you put your laptop on your lap and store your child in the overhead compartment so you can blog?
2. Does it take you more than three minutes to scroll from top to bottom of “Blogs I Like”?
3. Is there a permanent impression of your derriere in your computer chair from long hours of blogging, but you haven’t noticed?
4 It is ten o’clock at night and your attractive young wife has just stepped out of a bubble bath, all perfumed up, attired in her sexiest lingerie, and growls in a sexy voice, “Hey, Big Boy, don’t you want to come to bed early?” Your answer is, “Sorry, I would love to, Babybunkins, but I am right in the middle of writing my next blog post, and I can't stop just now.” This response suggests that you suffer from one of the most severe cases of BAD.
5. To allow more time for blogging, have you installed a mini-fridge, microwave, and port-a-potty in your computer room?
6. Does your significant other tell you that you can’t bring your laptop to bed in order to continue blogging?
7. Do you tell your kids that they can’t use the computer for their homework so that you can continue blogging?
8. Do your kids start referring to you as “that person in front of the monitor?”
9. Do you take your laptop into the bathroom and continue blogging while sitting on the john?
10.Have you bought your significant other a computer so that you can blog with him or her?
11. Did your significant other leave you last week, and you are still blogging and don’t know it?
12. Did your significant other leave you last week, and you are still blogging and don’t care?

It's important to learn how to control your blogging so that it doesn't control you. In severe cases, talk therapy to get to the root of the problem is crucial. Setting definite time limits also works. If you are currently spending five hours a day blogging and wish to reduce the number of hours to three, try to reduce the time limit in increments of one-half hour every other day over the period of a week. Use a clock or timer to remind you when to stop each time. And be sure to stop! Who said that the withdrawal from any addiction is easy? Behavior can change, but the allure of blogging - with its promise of anonymity and instant intimacy - will never change.

Oh, To Be a Millionaire

Oil billionaire J. Paul Getty once said, "A billion dollars is not what it used to be", and it's true. Inflation has taken its toll. It would require over six billion dollars in 2007 to equal the purchasing power of a billion dollars in the 1960’s. Of course, the same applies to a million dollars. A million dollars is not what it used to be.

A millionaire is generally defined as any individual whose net worth or wealth exceeds one million units of any currency. Depending on the currency, a certain level of prestige is associated with being a millionaire, which makes that amount of wealth a goal for many. The status of millionaire, however, is no longer as exclusive as it was in the 50s and 60s.

Fifty years ago, a millionaire might live in a mansion with servants. In the San Diego region today, a millionaire is one who can barely afford to buy an upper middle-class home in one of the better areas. The San Diego Union-Tribune reported this morning that the median home value in San Diego County in 2006 was $572,000. To be among the truly wealthy, one might buy a home for five million dollars or more in Rancho Santa Fe or La Jolla. A perusal of the Sunday edition of the San Diego Union-Tribune will show listings for hundreds of homes in the range of $800,000 or more.

Recently there has been some controversy over how to correctly determine a person's status as a millionaire. One of the two most commonly used measurements is net worth, which counts the total value of all property owned by a household minus the household's debts. According to this definition, a household owning an $800k home, $50k furnishing, two cars worth $60k, a $60k IRA, $45k in mutual funds, and a $325k vacation home with a $250k mortgage, $40k in car loans, and $25k in credit card debt would be worth $1,025,000. However, according to the financial assets measurement, equity in one's principal residence is excluded. So are all other fixed assets, such as the car and furniture.

Each year Forbes magazine publishes a list of the richest people in the world, and in 2007 it listed 946 billionaires (in US currency) in the world, with new billionaires popping up everywhere. In 1955, there were only 19 people in the world with assets over $500 million. Of course, the number of millionaires today also is much greater. In 2005, there were about nine million millionaires in the world (in total assets, excluding their primary home value), with 2.7 million of them living in the United States. In other words, almost one out of every 100 Americans is a millionaire.

Being a millionaire in the 1960s was a remarkable achievement, when one considers the purchasing power of a dollar then. The minimum wage was only a dollar an hour, and one could buy a nice tract home for ten to fifteen thousand dollars. The average annual salary was $8,000 and gasoline cost about 32 cents a gallon. At that time, the title of "millionaire" was way out of reach for most individuals, with only 100,000 millionaires in the whole nation; but present research indicates a trend suggesting that the number of millionaires in America will double every decade for the foreseeable future.

In the 1940’s, a popular radio quiz show offered $64 as the largest prize. Millions of Americans tuned in their radios to find out if a contestant could start out with a $1 prize and double it with each successive question until he or she won the $64 question. The “$64 question” later became part of the vocabulary of Americans, who referred to any situation requiring a difficult decision as posing the $64 question.

A new show “The Millionaire" ran six seasons between 1955-60 on CBS-TV. The premise of the show was that multi-billionaire John Beresford Tipton was persuaded by his physician, as a hobby to relieve his stress, to give a tax-free million dollar cashier’s check each episode to an individual selected at random, some rich and some poor, to determine how an unanticipated million-dollar gift would affect his or her life. Tipton’s executive secretary, Michael Anthony, delivered the check each episode to the unsuspecting recipient with instructions that the gift was never to be revealed to anyone except the spouse and they were never to try to learn who sent it. If they did, the remainder would be forfeited. Since the checks were tax free, given the 70% top tax bracket (for some of the recipients) in the fifties , the checks were in effect worth $1.7 million. Through flashback sequences, John Beresford Tipton's intrusion on fate was revealed as each episode disclosed whether the money helped or hurt people's lives. It was reported at the time that some viewers found the premise so convincing that they actually wrote their local TV stations, pleading to know where the reclusive Mr. Tipton lived so they could, hopefully, get a similar check.

A new game show called “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” debuted in the United States in 1999, hosted by Regis Philbin. It offered a maximum prize of one million dollars (originally lump sum; now annuitized) for correctly answering 15 successive multiple-choice questions of increasing difficulty. Now a weekday syndicated version of the show is hosted by Meredith Vieira.

In 2002, Jack Whittaker, already a millionaire, won more than $300 million in the Powerball lottery. He now says that, considering the negative effect winning the lottery has had on his life, he regrets winning the lottery. "Since I won the lottery, I think there is no control for greed," he said. "I think if you have something, there's always someone else that wants it. I wish I'd torn that ticket up."

Question: Suppose that John Beresford Tipton were a real billionaire living now and he chose you as an individual to receive one of his tax-free six million dollar cashier’s checks (adjusted for inflation), delivered to your door by Michael Anthony. How would this unanticipated largess affect your life?