How to Live a “Good” Life...

1. Get a skill.
2. Hang with people who don’t put you down to bring themselves up.
3. Don’t get to low on bad days…keep breathing…function get through it.
4. Don’t get to high on great days…eventually you come back down.
5. Appreciate what you have and don’t worry excessively about what you don’t have.

Why Do Students Give Apples to Teachers?

Well, there is no true origin of “why students give apples to teachers.” It’s more of a mythology of an image which has perpetuated itself upon us over the past century. It’s equal to images of the first Thanksgiving with perfectly clean Pilgrims and happy beaming “Indians” eating pies and sharing a peace-pipe. It’s not to say that the Pilgrims and certain Indian tribes didn’t get along, it’s just that an image which was painted 400 years later becomes the iconic image for that particular event. The point being, no one knows for sure how the first “Thanksgiving” went, but right or wrong, that’s the image most Americans have today. This perpetuated mythology also leads most Americans to believe that the wall carvings and art of ancient Egyptian have the Pharaohs “walking like Egyptians.” There are no carvings or wall paintings having them “walking like Egyptians.”

There are no records to indicate that students bringing apples to school teachers ever actually ever happened en masse. Again, it’s not to say that it didn’t happen. It’s just not recorded that every student brought an apple to every teacher.

Now, I’ve heard others hold fast to a belief that it all came about in the 19^th century when most of America was rural and that apples were given to teachers as a kind act in the light of a teacher’s low wages. I’ve also heard that it was a way of a student to show a teacher their appreciation for their abilities by hoping that the gift of the apple would ward away sickness, thus insuring that the teacher would be in class and not absent due to illness. Lastly, there is a more cynical image of a student giving an apple to a teacher as a means of ingratiating themselves to the teacher in the hopes of a good grade.

In the present day when students or parents wish to show their appreciation for a teacher’s efforts small tokens are usually presented in the form of $5-20 gift cards, homemade perishables or crafts, etc.

Today, the act of a student giving a teacher an apple has essentially become a parody of itself.

President Ronald Reagan

Well, for what it's worth…President Ronald Reagan worked for America at that point in time in which he was direly needed. He lowered taxes, the economy boomed...it seems that the individual knows more how to spend their money than the government does. Case in point, more "people of color (love that phrase)," moved up socio-economically than in any other previous decade since the Civil War. Also, Reagan's increased military-budget spending (based on increased tax revenue due to more people spending their money on various consumer goods that they wished to consume) led to R&D of something which will later be called "the Internet," not sure if that has helped society out (sarcasm intended). Reagan's increased military spending led to more aggressive advances in cellular technology, digital technology, as well as a host of medical advances from those "evil big phrama" companies. In this oversimplified explanation, this increased Reagan spending led to the Communist world spending money it did not have in an attempt to keep up on the "technology gap." Communism did not work due to it's failure to recognize human nature in the political and economic process. People do not wish to be equal in outcome, but equal in opportunity...Now was Reagan without his negatives...nope. However, society flourished as most boats raised economically as more people spent their money...

I'll leave you with this, President Obama want to spend 30 billion dollars to stimulate the economy...why not give back to the people, their contribution (taxes) to the state, I haven't run the numbers, but say each contributor gets $10,000. What would be the result? People buying what they wish...kitchen's getting remodeled, cars being purchased, bills being paid off (which in turn would lead to future spending), etc...We the people would stimulate the economy...not the government...let the people choose what and how much of product "x" is to be supplied to the market? Bottom line of Reagan...give the people back their money and let them spend it...and reap the tax revenue at the state and federal level...Yes, I endorse this diatribe...

Happy Birthday...

Please enjoy this arbitrary point in time, and the beginning of another sequence of 365 days, that in a sociological sense we all agree to define and celebrate as the stage in which the gestation phase of your existence, and through the grace of nature’s design, was concluded. Consequently, due to many years of societal habituation, by way of peer-pressure, an array of ulterior-motives, or through the perceptive sense of true happiness or love, we choose to acknowledge the closing stages of your development within the reproductive female carbon-based host which led to the “birthing progression.” A course of action which allowed for the myriad of chemical, light, and mechanical sensory functions which comprise your being to be placed within this present and sustainable living environment. So, in this particular frivolous light, Happy Birthday!