One Size Fits All

One size fits all is not and will never be a true statement. When it comes to clothing the buyer knows this and can opt out of the transaction if they want, but what happens when you have no choice. What do you do if you are caught up by some well meaning law that just happens to be one size fits all?

The US government passed a lead protection bill to protect children from lead. This was a great idea after the problems that arose in 2007 with lead in children’s toys, but something has happened that was not foreseen. All sorts of businesses have found themselves caught by a law that should never have affected them.

Small mom and pop toy makers that make and sell hand crafted toys will have to pay to have each toy checked for lead, a move that will put most of them out of business. Libraries may have to test and get read of children’s books with lead in them, a move they can’t afford. The makers of and the dealers of motorcycles and snowmobiles designed for children can’t sell, repair, or supply parts for their products because they have lead in the paint and engine parts.

This truly a case of a one size fits all law that though well meaning has or will hurt people it should be protecting, and that is the children. By protecting them from a real problem the law could easily deprive them of things that would never hurt them. No child is going to lick or mouth a motorcycle, library book, or the zipper on their clothing that may or may not have lead in its compounds. 

Human Nature

Hard times seem to bring out worst in our fellow man. The more the news reports on how bad things are in this country, the more one hears about people doing wrong. It seems that some of us have been overcome by selfishness and greed, while others have given into desperation as their world falls apart around them.

I see more and more stories about people taking advantage of the situation to con others out of what money they do have by pretending to offer them help in their time of need. There are stories of people embezzling money from their workplace, breaking into homes, and robbing stores.

As I said some are doing these things out of desperation, they see themselves losing everything and don’t know where to turn. Others though are doing these things out of greed, they are only interested in themselves, and fell the world owes them a living.

It is truly a shame that when times get hard people can’t show a better face to the world, but the sad fact is that it’s part of human nature. Deep inside we each have a dark side, a devil that sits on our shoulder and whispers in our ear guiding us down crooked path of crime. No matter why we do it, when we take advantage of others for our own benefit we only harm ourselves.

To Good To Be True

All it takes is hard times to bring out the worst in people. Let someone end up facing foreclosure or lose their job and the conmen come out of the woodwork.  They offer get rich schemes, can’t fail ways to get a job, or help getting money that does not exist.

They want to offer you a job, let you know you have money in the bank in some other country, or that you have won that lottery you can’t remember entering. They can help you get government grants that don’t exist and start a business that is guarantied to make you rich. All this and all you have to do is give them all your personal information and send them money

If it looks to good to be true, it’s most likely to good to be true. You can’t get something for nothing in this world and when someone says you can watch out. These helpful people exist because there are gullible and desperate individuals out there who are out of work, can’t pay their bills, and don’t know where to turn for help. They make a living taking advantage of people. They are and always will be there, a pitfall on life’s road that we must try to avoid.