BUSY BEING BORN…

2 PARAGRAPHS 4 LIBERTY: #398

Some of the lyrics in singer/songwriter Bob Dylan’s song It’s Alright Ma, I’m Only Bleeding are “If you’re not busy being born, you’re busy dying.” I believe that this is not only true for people, it is also true for countries. And I further believe that the United States of America is still busy being born! Do you agree? Well, if so, our Great Country should not be hesitant to change some of our national approaches. So, in that vein, I am making recommendations for three such changes for your consideration:

1. Fully convert to the Metric System! This system is transparently much more logical and practical than the one we use. Who could support the logic in such things as 12 inches per foot, 3 feet per yard, and 1,760 yards per mile? My wife was raised in Canada during the time that it converted to the Metric System, and she said that even her parents were able fully to be comfortable in this system within six months of the change. If her parents can do it, so can we.

2. Synchronize many of our traffic signals! Way back in 1957 when my parents took us to New York City we were in a taxi cab when, just as we approached an intersection without slowing down, the traffic lights turned green. My dad asked the driver how he could be so sure. The driver said that some of the streets contained synchronized signals, so he always tried to use those streets for obvious reasons. Why have we not installed the same system all around our country this many years later?

3. Convert to a 24-hour clock! When I was in the military it used a 24-hour clock. That means that what we now call 7:45 a.m. the military calls 0745. And what we call 6:13 p.m. it calls 1813. This would not be a difficult change to make.

So those are three suggested changes. What difference would they make? Changing to the Metric System would not only enable us to use a much better system, it would also allow our products to compete more strongly in the world market. Our scientific and medical societies have used the Metric System for decades, and we should follow their lead. Furthermore, imagine the savings in time, frustration levels, gasoline consumption and atmospheric pollution if we were to adopt the system of synchronizing our traffic signals! Finally, I agree that evolving to a 24-hour clock would not be earth-changing, but it certainly is easier and much less likely to result in mistakes being made. And, to cap it off, it will show all of us, as well as the rest of the world, that our Great Country is still busy being born instead of busy dying. So I am going to forward this column to each of our elected representatives in Washington, D.C. that I know for their consideration and action. Not only would they result in some positive changes in our country, they could also provide the means for some desperately needed bi-partisan cooperation among our legislators. And I request that you do the same.

Quote for the week: “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.” Dr. Martin Luther King, on this his Day