On Prolonged Presidential Campaigns

The U.S. presidential election is still nearly a year away, but campaigns are in full swing. They have been for months. Yet this time next year, close to half of eligible voters won’t vote. 

One reason may be that the campaign “season” is too long. Some voters burn out of the relentless months of debates, media coverage, advertisements, direct mail, Internet sites/blogs/podcasts/wikis and general information assault from all corners. By voting day, people are worn out. Even the word “campaign” conjures up the idea of a prolonged segment of war: a tiring, bloody, when-will-it-end campaign. People go numb, and the act of voting isn’t particularly climatic.  

Granted, candidates need time to raise money and get their teams in order. Many issues such as health care and foreign policy are complex and require time to discuss. But much of the first six months of campaigning appears to be posturing, with many candidates more concerned about not screwing up than engaging in serious discussion. 

Is there a better way? 

Some countries have a much shorter campaign cycles – and much higher voter turnout.  I wonder if there is a lesson to be learned there…..

On Artificial Sweeteners and Migraine Headaches

If you know someone who can’t pinpoint the cause of his migraine headaches, consider my daughter’s story.

Around the time she turned 3 1/2-years old, my daughter suffered from terrible migraine headaches about once per month, with symptoms including severe headaches and high fever, culminating in vomiting anywhere from 2-4 hours after the onset of the headache. On a scale of 1-10 in intensity, some of these headaches were a 10.

  

Fortunately, we noticed that within minutes of her vomiting, she felt better, her fever dropped and she would ask for food and water. This led us to assume (correctly as it turned out) that the migraines were triggered by certain foods.

  

We quickly traced the source to ARTIFICIAL SWEETENERS, specifically anything with Aspartame or Sorbitol. Any food with either ingredient would trigger a migraine within a couple of hours of her digesting it. Other artificial flavorings may also be a problem. We discovered this about 6 months ago, and since eliminating these sweeteners from her diet, she has not had any problems. (About two months ago, I slipped and unknowingly gave her a breakfast bar sweetened with Sorbitol, and sure enough she got a terrible migraine. We now check every label very carefully.)

One doctor was skeptical of the link between the sweeteners and the headaches (although a second doctor believes there is a connection), and I found a couple of medical websites stating that there is no solid link proven between these specific sweeteners and migraines. Still, there’s no doubt in our case: no artificial sweetener equals no attacks.

If you know someone suffering from migraines, you might check this as a possible cause. To learn more about migraines, visit Mayo Clinic’s website at www.mayoclinic.com/health/headaches/HE99999.

On Helping Others Help Themselves

If you want to help people in need but are wary of donating money, check out a great organization called “Kiva” (www.kiva.org). They don’t ask you to donate money; you only loan it, in very small amounts, to the working poor in the developing world who use your money to start or grow their business. Then they repay your loan!

Your money is used to purchase small business items, such as a sewing machine so the borrower can make clothes to sell, or seeds so they can grow crops for market. You become an international microlender. The recipient becomes an entrepreneur who escapes poverty.

I love this arrangement for several reasons.

First, the maximum you can loan to any one individual is $25. This isn’t a great strain on the lender, but combined with other $25 loans, the borrower can cobble together a couple hundred dollars, which is all they need. (You can loan $25 to as many different borrowers as you wish.)

Also, your money isn’t dropped into a general fund later doled out to nameless recipients at someone else’s discretion. Instead, you browse Kiva.org to choose the specific person who will receive your loan — almost always a very small business owner — and they tell you up front how they’ll use the money to start or grow their business. Throughout the course of the loan (usually 6-12 months), you can receive email journal updates from the business you’ve sponsored. As loans are repaid, you get your $25 back. Overall, Kiva borrowers have a default rate of less than two percent.

Most importantly, your loan is not a short-term fix. It will help people work their way out of poverty for good.

Growing up, I often heard my parents remark that people in need should “pull themselves up by their own bootstraps.” Your loan through Kiva.org provides the seed money to make this happen.

Spend a few minutes at www.kiva.org and decide for yourself.

                          

On…. Dying Young

I read recently that Sean Taylor, a professional football player for the Washington Redskins, was shot in his home by an intruder. He died the next day. Sean was only 24. I don’t follow the Redskins and knew very little about Sean Taylor, but I’m struck both how young and how violently he died. Here’s a guy sleeping in his own bed – in the same room with his 1-year-old daughter and the baby’s mother – and somebody breaks into his home in the middle of the night, shoots him, then leaves.  

Sometimes I read about children dying, kids as young as a few years (or few months) old, often violently at the hands of people supposed to be caring for them, and I cringe. They never had a chance at life. I think even 24 is terribly young to die. This particular age resonates with me because of something I experienced when I was 24.  

It was Christmas Eve. I was working as a reporter for a daily newspaper in Southwest Florida, covering general assignments – a little bit of everything. I was scheduled to work until 10 p.m., but the newsroom was very quiet: Christmas Eve is typically a very slow news day. I was eager to begin my drive to Jacksonville to visit family, a nearly five-hour trip. Around 3:00 p.m., my editor said, “If it’s still this quiet at 6:00 p.m., you can knock off early.” I was hopeful and in a hurry, thinking of how fast I’d need to drive to make Jacksonville by 10:00 p.m.  

All stayed quiet until about 5:30 p.m., when an alarm from the police scanner sounded, followed by a squawky voice giving police code for a serious car accident. My editor dispatched me to the scene. When I arrived, I saw an odd smoldering hunk of metal about the size of a car engine in the middle of a 4-lane highway. Later, someone told me it was a motorcycle, but it wasn’t recognizable. About 50 feet from the bike was a body covered by a bed sheet. Two more blood-spattered bed sheets hung from the windshield of a wrecked car in the median.  

A police officer explained that a car driven by an elderly woman had pulled in front of the speeding motorcyclist, who apparently didn’t have time to brake. The motorcycle shot into the driver’s side door like a missile, instantly killing the car driver, her passenger and the motorcyclist. Turns out the guy was speeding on his new motorcycle to get to Jacksonville in time to share Christmas with his family. Saddened for the families, I asked the cop the ages of the victims. “Both women in the car were 83,” the cop said. “Young man was 24.” It shook me a little, as I was 24, too, hoping to see my family that night in Jacksonville.

     

I went back to the newsroom to file the story – ruminating on my new-found vulnerability – then got in my car and began my midnight trip, requiring me to drive on the same road past the same accident I had just covered. The sheet-covered bodies were still there. I drove the speed limit the whole way. To this day, I don’t speed much. And anytime I hear of a young person dying, I think of that 24-year-old who never made it home for Christmas. Now I’ll probably think of Sean Taylor, too…..

                                                            

On Becoming a Parent

The week after my high school graduation, an older family friend said, “Boy, your life is really going to change now. College is a lot of work!”  

I loved college, but I didn’t find the transition from high school all that difficult. I worked hard in high school, and college was no different.

When I bought my first house, another friend told me, “Boy, your life is really going to change now. Keeping a house takes a lot of work!”  

Maintaining my own home has taken work, but it certainly hasn’t been life changing. 

Still again, when I became engaged, an earnest friend said, “Boy, your life is really going to change. Marriage takes a lot of work!” Again, I braced for a sea change that never came. My wife and I dated for five years before getting married, and I enjoyed a smooth transition into married life. 

Then we decided to start a family. 

My mother said, “I’m happy for you. Of course, your life is going to change. Having a baby is a lot of work!” 

Yeah, yeah, I thought. I’ve heard that before.  Then the baby came.

And Mom was right! Having a baby is a lot of work. But it’s a lot of fun, too, and along with marrying my wife has been the best decision I’ve ever made. Being a good parent isn’t always easy, but it is life changing. 

The lesson here is “Always listen to Mom”……