The Bachelor is less about the reality of love and more about ratings

Life & Living, Love & Relationships
I never thought I'd tune in to "The Bachelor". Boy was I wrong. On my weekly outings to see my grandmother, part of the evening is inevitably spent watching something on television (or the boob tube as she commonly refers to it). Most of the time we’re tuned in to the popular game show “Wheel of Fortune” – where grams always comments on Vanna’s wardrobe and how she’d love to have her job. I don’t mind the show really – remembering how often I used to watch it as a kid during summer vacation. But the other night she caught me by surprise when she asked if we could watch the season finale of “The Bachelor”. I wasn’t about to say no to a 90-year-old woman, even though I wanted…
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It’s Really Okay for Men to Cry

Life & Living, Youth
Famed author and renowned lecturer Leo Buscaglia championed the cause of how we seek happiness and create loving relationships over the course of our lifetime.  He once told the story of how he was asked to judge a competition in search of the most caring child alive today. To the surprise of many, the young boy who won did so based more on his actions than on his words. The young boy had an elderly neighbor whose wife had recently passed away.  Upon seeing the old man crying, the little boy made his way into the neighbor’s yard, climbed onto his lap and just sat there silently with him. When he returned home his mother asked what he had said to the old man while he was there on his…
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When you learn what you’re really eating it’s eye opening

Information & Education, Life & Living
As children we naively believe that what you're really eating comes from the shelves of our local supermarket, not from farms or dairies or factories, which crank out the morsels our taste buds crave in massive quantities. But did you ever stop and ask yourself is what we’re eating tainted by the way in which it’s being produced? Has the quality and benefits of the food we’re consuming on a daily basis been diluted in order to meet the high demands of the buying public? At my sister in law’s suggestion, my wife and I tuned in to a recently produced documentary entitled, “Food, Inc.” - all about what we're really eating. In short, filmmaker Robert Kenner uncovers a startling reality about the way in which food in the United…
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Cell phone use seems to no longer have any boundaries in public

Life & Living, Youth
Today, the cell phone has become like another appendage dangling from our bodies. Whether its walking down the street, shopping or even sitting at work, it seems these tiny electronic devices have become as essential to our lives as breathing. People always harass me that my cell phone is almost always off, but truthfully I’m not interested in being accessible every minute of every day. For centuries, society was able to successfully survive without a cell phone glued to their ear, so it is possible to live quite happily without one. But I realize I’m in the minority here. What I think bothers me most about cell phone use is how often we’re included in other people’s conversations whether we want to be or not. Walking through the grocery store,…
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Watching something old can suddenly become something new again

Generosity & Kindness, Life & Living
One thing I remember about my late grandmother was her love of classic films from the 1940’s and 50’s. For me, they always seemed like something old. She never was a baker or a gardener and found no satisfaction in just sitting around the house crocheting lap blankets out of yarn. No, her enjoyment came from an era in Hollywood filled with glamorous productions and legendary talent. Having been born in 1975 however, I was never interested in movies before that time – especially if they were black and white. But meeting different people and sharing in new relationships often opens your eyes to a world of enjoyment you hadn’t experienced before. Maybe it’s in the foods you eat or the places you visit, or even the movies you choose…
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