Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Fat Tax
The biggest loser is one of my favorite TV shows. I think its inspiring and amazing how dramatically people can change their lives through just diet and exercise. Today, while I was watching a rerun they gathered students from two different high schools so that they can learn how to diet and exercise before their condition becomes extreme and causes them to have medical problems.
I think it’s obvious as a country we have a huge problem with obesity and it reminded me of a bill that was purposed a few years ago that would impose a “fat tax” on people that are overweight. I think that this is a very interesting idea. People that are overweight have more health problems so they will be charged extra on their health insurance to make up for the additional costs they will cause.
But is implementing a “fat tax” a form of discrimination? I think that it is very similar to taxes that healthcare providers put on smokers. I feel that since being overweight cause’s people more emotional distress and is more of a social stigma than smoking law makers are very sensitive to addressing it.
While I also think that family life is very important to how we learn to take care of ourselves, I don’t think that it has been working well. Childhood obesity has tripled the past two decades. In most states a taxes on cigarettes has been extremely effective. And although I don’t like the government having a control over my life, but I think that if they are doing it to save us from ourselves, then maybe it is for our own good.
I think it’s obvious as a country we have a huge problem with obesity and it reminded me of a bill that was purposed a few years ago that would impose a “fat tax” on people that are overweight. I think that this is a very interesting idea. People that are overweight have more health problems so they will be charged extra on their health insurance to make up for the additional costs they will cause.
But is implementing a “fat tax” a form of discrimination? I think that it is very similar to taxes that healthcare providers put on smokers. I feel that since being overweight cause’s people more emotional distress and is more of a social stigma than smoking law makers are very sensitive to addressing it.
While I also think that family life is very important to how we learn to take care of ourselves, I don’t think that it has been working well. Childhood obesity has tripled the past two decades. In most states a taxes on cigarettes has been extremely effective. And although I don’t like the government having a control over my life, but I think that if they are doing it to save us from ourselves, then maybe it is for our own good.
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Father knows best?
Just like many teenagers, growing up I felt that my parents were dumb and had no idea what was going on with the world or in my life. Like many other fathers, my dad’s advice would be broad from my love life to how I should prepare for a career. I would simply shrug it off and never really take his advice to heart.
But when I came to college a strange thing happened to me. I realized that my father actually knew what he was talking about.
When I was younger, to kill time in car rides my father would often give me, what I thought to be, a bizarre interview question. Our favorite one was calculating how many gas stations were in Kansas. He told me to look at what I knew and then from there I could estimate what the answer was. He told me that the interviewer would want to know how I think rather than arriving at the correct answer. My friends would also play this game with us and they learned the techniques behind it as well.
One day while in my dorm room I received a phone call from one of my friends who is in the business school at Georgetown University. She had just finished and interview for a business club where they asked her a question very similar to the one that my dad used to ask us to pass time. I was amazed. She told me how helpful it was to know how to answer the question and how she knew that my dad would love to know that they actually asked her a question like his.
As time went on I noticed more and more things that my father had told me that I didn’t believe but now I see that he is right. It is a strange feeling to constantly doubt someone only to be proven wrong when you’re away from them. I guess what they say is true and father really does know best.
But when I came to college a strange thing happened to me. I realized that my father actually knew what he was talking about.
When I was younger, to kill time in car rides my father would often give me, what I thought to be, a bizarre interview question. Our favorite one was calculating how many gas stations were in Kansas. He told me to look at what I knew and then from there I could estimate what the answer was. He told me that the interviewer would want to know how I think rather than arriving at the correct answer. My friends would also play this game with us and they learned the techniques behind it as well.
One day while in my dorm room I received a phone call from one of my friends who is in the business school at Georgetown University. She had just finished and interview for a business club where they asked her a question very similar to the one that my dad used to ask us to pass time. I was amazed. She told me how helpful it was to know how to answer the question and how she knew that my dad would love to know that they actually asked her a question like his.
As time went on I noticed more and more things that my father had told me that I didn’t believe but now I see that he is right. It is a strange feeling to constantly doubt someone only to be proven wrong when you’re away from them. I guess what they say is true and father really does know best.
Saturday, February 28, 2009
comment
I commented on Catherine’s blog “choices, choices and more choices.” I think this was a good blog because it’s what a lot of people on campus are going through and is very relatable.
lenten revelations
We are now officially into the Lenten season and it is now the time for fasting, alms giving and prayer. This year I decided to give up cursing and caffeine. While I thought that the caffeine would be the difficult part, it is something that you are consciously aware of breaking before you do it. Cursing, on the other hand, is something that just kind of comes out.
When I was in high school I never used to curse, but since I came to school here I cannot help myself! I don’t know if it is because others around me are doing it too so I just picked it up a lot like slang, or what happened. I have talked to a lot of people about my choice to give up cursing for lent and they agree with me that they never used to use these words until they came here too.
Are we as SMU students worse about cussing than other schools? Or is it just college students as a whole that use horrible language? I know that I need to fix my language because by the time that I get to hire and into the corporate world, language like that is not allowed. So maybe I can use this opportunity to clean up my act before it really matters. Then again, I still have three and a half years to fall back into my old habits.
When I was in high school I never used to curse, but since I came to school here I cannot help myself! I don’t know if it is because others around me are doing it too so I just picked it up a lot like slang, or what happened. I have talked to a lot of people about my choice to give up cursing for lent and they agree with me that they never used to use these words until they came here too.
Are we as SMU students worse about cussing than other schools? Or is it just college students as a whole that use horrible language? I know that I need to fix my language because by the time that I get to hire and into the corporate world, language like that is not allowed. So maybe I can use this opportunity to clean up my act before it really matters. Then again, I still have three and a half years to fall back into my old habits.
New man on campus
I was leaving my earth systems class early Tuesday Morning when I saw a many black suburbans and a mob of people in front of Fondren Life and Science Building. I immediately knew it was George Bush. I had so many thoughts running through my head on whether or not I should go speak to. I thought about if I was dressed properly, what I would say and how I would react in general. I decided that it was just not the day for me and I continued to walk to my next class. Later, I heard about how he had come to speak to a political science class and answered any questions that students had for him.
I thought this was so cool. How many college campuses have a presidential library, let alone a president walking around their campus speaking to students? Politics aside, I think that we are so lucky to have this opportunity, it’s an honor.
I am also sure that it must have been so refreshing for President Bush to have all those students around him telling him how much that they appreciate him. Especially after all of the bad press that he gets and the polls of how the youth doesn’t particularly like him. I hope that I will get to see him around campus again soon and this time be brave enough to go and speak to him.
I thought this was so cool. How many college campuses have a presidential library, let alone a president walking around their campus speaking to students? Politics aside, I think that we are so lucky to have this opportunity, it’s an honor.
I am also sure that it must have been so refreshing for President Bush to have all those students around him telling him how much that they appreciate him. Especially after all of the bad press that he gets and the polls of how the youth doesn’t particularly like him. I hope that I will get to see him around campus again soon and this time be brave enough to go and speak to him.
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