Sweating the small stuff blinds us to the big stuff!

So very true!

These days, it seems like we are looking for trouble in all the wrong places! We get all bent out of shape when we hear of Michael Phelps inhaling marijuana, but we have yet to finger any of the "real baddies" among us. How about those responsible for our economic woes (and just LOVELY examples for our kids!)? How about the Wall Street big shots who have set the ultimate negative example for our kids; how to manipulate and wangle their way out of REALLY bad errors in judgement! Let's get real, can we?!

Who's kidding whom?
In my opinion, we are really only kidding ourselves, when we spend our energies on bemoaning a benign issue like Michael Phelps smoking weed at a party.

"Oh, he does not look like a good role model", we say. Or, "kids look up to him for an example; we can't have him doing things like that!" I say "Balderdash!" When are we going to learn that it is The Truth which can set us free; not more pretense and politically-correct platitudes!?

Michael Phelps and others:
Michael Phelps is just one of many who have done what millions of other people do every day; worldwide. Very few countries (if any) are completely "drug-free", and marijuana is popular and readily available just about anywhere, according to some sources.

What about Willie Nelson? Caught in Louisiana with 1.5 pounds of marijuana and hallucinogenic mushrooms; paid a fine and lost his drugs, though I doubt he was turned away from his lifestyle because of that.

What about Paul McCartney? Paul has been using marijuana for decades, according to news stories and other sources. Yet he still manages to wow the crowds anywhere he performs, and nobody is saying very much about his use, or rejecting him because of it.

And, of course, we know there are so many more; Hollywood celebrities, movie stars, sports professionals; I dare say every segment of our global culture is touched in some way by at least marijuana; and surely some by much more serious substances.

The Truth can set us free!

The Truth:
This article is not intended to promote wide-spread drug use or abuse. It is intended to perhaps help us think about some of these things with primary focus on REALITY AND TRUTH, instead of continually trying to pretend and fight that proverbial windmill that continually looms before us.

The Paradox:
As I see it, the more we try to squelch and berate and demean and otherwise bring negative attention to some of these things that we, as a collective social and cultural network of reasonable human beings are allegedly trying to be rid of, is really only adding more fuel to the fires that burn within each and every one of us; that burning desire to "think for ourselves"; to "be individuals"; to experience true "freedom of choice"; to make our own intelligent, educated, and mature decisions about these and other such things.

What to do; what to do:
Why don't we just admit The Truth: That marijuana has, for thousands of years, found a place in the world; just as much as, and perhaps even much more than, alcohol and numerous other so-called "vices"?

If we could learn to get off our high-horses about some of these realities, I believe we could then begin learn what it means to be truly free; and, I believe we could begin to design and execute meaningful education programs, based on The Truth, and not on political or other smoke-and-mirrors filled ideologies.

We promote and glorify a host of "other drugs" like alcohol, and Viagra, and Lipitor, and Lunesta, and Ambien, and Prozac, (and hundreds more like these); and pornography, and gambling, and sex; and murder, and hatred, arrogance, road-rage; and the hundreds of other similarly negatively-charged things that are or once were considered evi" and bad.

Just look around! Watch the pharmaceutical advertisements; look at the kind of video games out there; listen to the mean-spirited sports venues; watch the horror and murder and hatred depicted in the movies; see how gambling, sex, murder, and all those other things sell on the marketplace. Again, I say, "Who's kidding whom?" How can we think our kids are not being negatively affected by those things?

Conclusion:
I do not think we are really doing our kids very much real service by punishing someone like Michael Phelps for what he did. I really don't think many of our kids were very surprised to learn about it, because it is something that is ingrained in kids today at very young ages.

Statistics tell us that marijuana (and other drug) usage is on the rise again; and some kids as young as 12 are using it fairly regularly. Many (if not most) elementary level schools have students who sell marijuana and other types of drugs to their peers.

It seems clear to me that our kids (and Michael Phelps, Willie Nelson, Paul McCartney and many others) are going to do these things whether or not we (that is, certain segments of our society) wish them to. I think it is up to us (again, society at large) to better understand The Truth about such things so we all can make intelligent and meaningful decisions about them.

I think each generation learns by rejecting and rebelling some of the "taboos" of prior generations, and establishing their own footprints on this mysterious journey we are taking together!

Let's all settle down and figure out The Truth, shall we? Then, let's teach that to our children; and let The Truth work within them, so they can make their own best decisions about these things.

In my humble opinion, The Truth certainly has a lot more promise than all the laws, and threats of incarceration and public humiliation, or other demeaning and undue forms of punishment for people like Michael Phelps and millions of others like him!

Tips & Warnings

• The Truth shall set us free!
• The Truth has the powers of the Universe behind it!
• The Truth can lead us to greater understanding and wisdom.
• Not intended to promote illegal or otherwise unacceptable behaviors and practices.
• Propaganda is rarely based on Truth!
• Hypocrisy breeds more hypocrisy!
• Lies perpetuate more lies!
• Pretense is transparent and detrimental!