Fire Season

It’s that time of year here in Michigan. Its spring when the snow is melted away but the grass hasn’t started to grow. Its fire season, when people want to clean up their yards and get red of the brush and dead grass that’s lying around. It’s now that a spark from a burning brush pile, trash barrel, or cigarette can cause a fire that can burn fields and buildings before it’s stopped.

My Dad was a D.N. R. Fire Officer when I was growing up and this was always a busy time of year for him. We would get a nice day and people would be out working in their yards, next thing you knew there was a phone call about a fire. It was worse if it had rained earlier in the day, and then people thought it was OK to burn. What they didn’t realize was the rain soaked in and the dead grass was still tender dry.

Please call the Fire Department, if it’s not safe to burn they will tell you. If it is safe they can give you a burn permit. If you get a permit and are going to burn please make sure you have a hose handy and someone is watching the fire at all times. Remember in Michigan you can be made to pay for the cost of fighting the fire if it gets out of control.

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.