My young grandson had a right royal smashup on his high powered motorcycle
this morning. His ribs were broken, his arms were broken, one leg was broken,
and much of his handsome face won't be handsome any more unless the Lord
sends a miracle down.
Death and Carnage |
The whole family warned him not to get that racing motorcycle. We all told him he was not mature enough to be riding it. Would he listen? Oh no. Like every other clueless, irresponsible youth in the world he insisted this was his life and his decision. Well, it may be
his life, | Lin Stone is an author, writer and photographer living in Mena Arkansas among the gentle mountains known as Ouachita. You can have immediate, and free, reading of many more pieces when you send your little surfer scooting to Lin's home page at http://www.talewins.com/StoneSoup.htm where he keeps stirring up more good things for the soul. |
They aren't the ones that scrape up the pieces off the highway. They aren't the ones that spend hours in the hospital, or years grieving at the gravesite. They aren't the ones that foot the bills either. Now before you go showing this to your young kids in hopes of persuading them to give up their dreams, I am all for motorcycles. In the right hands they are a fast, efficient and safe means of transportation. They belong on our roads. They already serve a useful purpose and if the gas situation doesn't get better the need for them will soon be greater than ever. I firmly believe the Army and Marines should have at
least one and preferably three motorcyclists in every infantry platoon on earth. When my oldest daughter bought her own motorcycle as soon as she turned 18 I never had one qualm about it. "Gee, you're going to have a barrel of fun, kid." She took it cross country without raising one -- above average -- concern for her safety. I didn't even worry when she picked up my grandmother and took her out for a spin that lasted all day long! Grandma said it was the most fun she had ever had. But (and here's the difference) I had trained her (and all her siblings too) to drive tractors before she started kindergarten, and to drive trucks and automobiles before she was 8 years old. On top of that, she was the first girl to complete the mechanic's class at her High School. In short she had earned the right to go chasing her dreams, through her maturity. Twenty years later motorcycles are still a vital part of her transportation lifestyle, second in use only to one of her Corvettes. I've seen kids of 8 and 9 years old with enough maturity to go out to win motocross championships, mature enough to ride 3-wheelers alone in a terrain I take extra caution just walking across. That kind of maturity is exactly what should be required of ANYONE wanting to climb on a motorcycle and cruise down the nation's highways. And I want to see that motorcycle maturity proven to the satisfaction of the Highway Patrol, and the family, and to the community in which they live, BEFORE a license is issued. By community I mean the neighbors whose kids might be outside when this motorcycle comes roaring down the street. I believe public affidavits should be required from a minimum of three MATURE ADULTS living within three blocks of the new rider's home residence stating their faith in the new rider's maturity, and that any one of them can withdraw that support at any time. This would make a public statement to the riders, Grow Up, or GET OFF YOUR BIKE! |
Motorcycles are fun. Motorcycles are exciting.
Before you hand over the keys and license to one of your kids,
make sure they have earned that privilege, with a long record of maturity.
Kids too immature
to even haul out the garbage,
need not apply.
the end
|
Why do we Turn on Our Police Officers?
There is no denying that using the modern health care system will plunge anyone into bankruptcy unless they have adequate (and un-cancelable) health insurance. Let's back up a step though. Has it ever been proven that our unhampered modern health care system would actually provide a better state of health to American citizens? The 1863 Thanksgiving Proclamation of Abraham Lincoln.
ARE We Being Invaded? The Gettysburg Address, by Abraham Lincoln. The Constitution has no avenue for charity to be given by the government. Charity Beginneth with the Soul: Charity must be freely given, a choice to do something for others, with desires originating in the soul. Charity cannot be given from compulsion. Finding Peace in Times of Terror... God Bless Americans.. The Israelites had Aaron build a golden calf for them to worship in the wilderness and proclaimed that calf their own hands had fashioned was the god who had delivered them from Egypt. Like those Israelites we have gone too far. As a nation we have now left the God who made us too far behind. |
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Should healthcare be completely privatized - or should a segment of it be left in public hands? As the debate infects countries adhering to the "social model of capitalism" (e.g., Scandinavia and France) and spreads to countries in transition in Central and Eastern Europe -it is worthwhile to study the experience of the bellwether in privatized health care: the USA. The Internet started out as a network of computers set up for military purposes. To cut a long story short, the World Wide Web started out simply because it could; the Internet was there to host it, and the technology was there to deliver it. Both were heralded as the new face of democracy – at long last, the voiceless had a voice. Meant To Be One. Hope and Love are the only tools known that can break down the barriers between warring nations. Daniel Webster's last address to the New York Historical Society. The Poor You Have Always With You. An essay on the homeless, reprinted many times, yet it is still fresh and biting new. Watches, a symbol of love betrayed? by Lin Stone. The Law of Tooth and Claw: You have to make allowances for puppies, or kill them. Potential Men by John Sheirer. A few thoughts on women, men, and violence. Eugenics Anonymous Albert Edward Wiggam said: "The laws that govern the evolution of plants and animals apply to man. We can have any kind of race we want -- beautiful or ugly, wise or foolish, strong or weak, moral or immoral." Eugenics and the Future of the Human Species: It is clear that modern medicine has created a serious dilemma ... In the past, there were many children who never survived - they succumbed to various diseases ... But in a sense modern medicine has put natural selection out of commission. Something that has helped one individual over a serious illness can in the long run contribute to weakening the resistance of the whole human race to certain diseases. The True Fourth of July by Muhammad Nasser Bey. The whole family warned my young grandson not to get that racing motorcycle. Every one of us told him he was not mature enough to be riding it. Would he listen? Oh no. Like every other clueless, irresponsible youth in the world he insisted this was his life and his decision. Well, it may be his life, but why should it be his decision? |
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