Look Straight at the Coming Disaster

Women on the Verge of Thinking has championed the cause of mental health for a long time and I agree that it is just as important as good physical health. Unfortunately, not everyone is comfortable doing what is necessary to maintain it. There is a stigma that comes with counseling or therapy, and I find that extremely disturbing.

Everyone needs a little help now and then. There are just some things that we aren't meant to handle on our own. When someone close to use dies or we dive head-first into some unexpected transition, it is important that we have someone to talk to. If you're not comfortable talking to friends or relatives, a therapist, counselor, or whatever you want to call them, can often shed some light on a subject you may be approaching from only one point of view.

When you know something life-changing is coming your way, it doesn't hurt to check in with someone who is not personally invested. There is no shame in seeking advice or consolation from a neutral party. It just may be what you need to take the next (or the first) step toward better mental health.

General Hospital Tackles Medical Marijuana

I've been glad to see General Hospital taking on more serious subjects. Since I've been watching (about 15+ years), their main topic has been HIV/AIDS, but recently a main character has been diagnosed wit lung cancer (even though she's NEVER smoked cigars or cigarettes) and she's been having a bit of trouble with all of the chemicals being put into her body. The chemo makes her incredibly sick, and in order to keep up appearances for her young daughters and to be able to function on a semi-normal level, she took to smoking marijuana (suggested to her by a friend). Though her ex-husband is using this as a ploy to take away her youngest daughter, the rest of the cast has been extremely supportive of this decision, telling her that cancer is a horrible disease, the treatment is as bad or worse, and anything she can do to make herself feel better is fine by them.

You can bet that medical marijuana is going to be an issue, however small, in the upcoming Presidential election, and if it isn't, the press and the politicians are just being negligent. Marijuana is not a completely harmless herb, but the adverse effects are well within the requirements specified by the FDA for anything Americans put into their bodies, and it's effects are far less than that of alcohol or smoking cigarettes.

Marijuana is especially helpful for pain in those with certain cancers, especially that of they eyes, and other painful conditions with limited treatment options such as Fibromyalgia (which my sister suffers from after 4 open-heart surgeries, 1 spinal surgery, 1 shunt, and several hearth catherizations, all due to being born with Tetrallogy of Fallot, better known as Blue Baby Syndrome), Multiple Sclerosis (which Montel Williams and my friend and mentor Annie suffers from), chronic back pain, and MANY other conditions.

Eleven states (AK, AZ, CA, CO, HI, ME, NV, OR, RI, VT and WA) allow medical marijuana for the treatment of various illnesses or side-effects associated with major illnesses, and many others are debating it. Whatever your opinion, please educate yourself on the benefits AND the risks, then form your own opinion. You owe it to those who are suffering daily and deeply.

Other Americans who are suffering daily and deeply include:
3,129 US Soldiers killed in Iraq
23,530 US Soldiers wounded in Iraq

Global Warming is REAL

Al Gore is being nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize due to his work educating world leaders and the American public about the dangers of Global Warming through his book and movie, both entitled An Inconvenient Truth. This came not long after the State of the Union Address in which the President briefly mentioned that he's like Americans to reduce their fuel consumption by 20% in the next 10 years - a statement that local and national news networks all but ignored. No one, including the President mentioned the various ways to encourage conservation and discourage fuel consumption. Here are a few of my suggestions:

1. Provide tax breaks for people working within 10 miles of their home or those using public transportation. Of course, this would require updating the public transportation system, extending bus routes, and planning future communities in a way that allows the people living in them to travel no more than 10 miles to work, school, or shopping locations. Of course, it would be even better if everything we needed were within walking distance, but that would be too much to ask.

2. Require better gas mileage for all cars.

3. Tax SUV's, Hummers, and trucks for personal use that require huge amounts of fuel. Offer tax breaks to those driving hybrids or cars using alternative fuels.

EDITED: Religious people all over the world have rejected the theory of Global Warming, including our President, who should be impeached for doing so. Since the planet was made by God, and we in God's image, many believe that we could not possibly do anything to destroy either. Religious leaders of all kinds have been rejecting scientific principles since the beginning of time. As conscious citizens, it is our duty to convince them that the care of our planet and ourselves is not only in all of OUR best interests, but it is most likely what God would want us to do (if she exists). And, wouldn't it stand to reason that if we ARE creatures of God and the Earth is her masterpiece, that we should take the best possible care of both?

So that Americans can continue consuming obscene amounts of fuel:
3,088 US Soldiers have been killed in Iraq (this figure DOES NOT include soldiers who were wounded in Iraq but died of their wounds outside of its borders)
23,114 US Soldiers have been wounded in Iraq