Big Problems Need Big Solutions

Franklin didn't start out to overthrow the English government. He wasn't a revolutionary so much as he was a "fixer" or reformer. He loved living in London, but he was born in America and loved the opportunities that it afforded him. Yet, he was a pragmatic, more than an idealist, like Jefferson and Adams, so when he saw that remaining with England was no longer practical, he became a revolutionary. He had come to the conclusion that the system needed more than a little tweaking, but rather they needed to start all over.

What can we learn from our American revolution? Well, for one thing, radical change is not such a bad thing, and at time is the necessary change. We elected Obama because he promised change, but this is exactly why many Americans are afraid of him. Humans have always fought change, and let's remember, many colonists supported and fought for the English during the revolutionary war, including Ben's own son. Change is scarey and unpredictable. Take the current Health Care debate, many on the Right belive that the system needs to be tweaked with things like tort reform, while the Left is demanding a radical overhaul. Health Care in America is a big problem, as I am learning about and will soon be writing about in a seperate blog, and something like tort reform will only slightly improve the situation. There needs to be a complete overhaul. Let's also remember that the U.S. also danced around the issue of slavery for the first 70 years of our existence, before Lincoln made a radical decision to outlaw it. Obama needs to be a radical, which I know scares the Right, but I'm not sure his personality, which is very cerebral and calculating, is capable of pushing for the radical shifts necessary in Health Care.

So, what does this have to do with my goal for the week? Well, I've decided that I am, not only going to make minor shifts in my diet, but by going with my childhood diet, it means giving up many of my "comfort foods' like pop and red meat. Also, I've put out the goal to lose 16 lbs. over the next month, starting at 215 and ending at 199, which would break my former record of losing 15 lbs. in a month. Now, 16 lbs. in a month is a lot, but studies have shown that men who make bigger goals around weight are more likely to lose weight than men who say they just want to lose a couple of pounds. Let's face it, we get more motivated by big challenges than small ones. So, I'm off to eat an apple!