There’s an epidemic sweeping our nation right now. Some might even call it an attack on the core of what makes our county great–our safety, our security and the freedom to learn and live without fear. After so many mass shootings in malls, schools and public spaces, an outcry has risen to stop and prevent these events from happening. And rightfully so!

We’ve Got The Wrong Enemy

If there’s one thing our government should do, it’s protect our citizens but in the midst of these tragedies it appears we have set our sights on the wrong enemy–Gun Control. Removing constitutionally guaranteed rights will not have an effect on the true source of this problem. We are living with a drug problem, not a gun problem.

According to the sister-in-law of Nikolas Cruz’s mother, the 19-year-old shooter at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School had a history of emotional difficulties and depression and was taking medication, as reported by NPR in a February 14th article. While it’s still too early to tell for sure the extent that Cruz’s use of, or side effects from, medication played in his actions that day, there is a growing number of cases involving suspects and assailants who are prescribed psychiatric drugs.

It’s the same story from 2017’s Las Vegas mass shooting. According to CNN in October 2017, “The drug Las Vegas shooter Stephen Paddock was prescribed, Valium, is a benzodiazepine documented by several studies to cause violence, aggression, homicidal ideation and suicide risk or attempts. New court records obtained by CNN indicate Paddock had been prescribed the drug as far back as 2013.”

Research Points To The Real Problem

While there have been thousands of acts of violence and shootings that have not been correlated to the use of psychiatric drugs, the Citizen’s Commission on Human Right International notes there is research showing, “There have been 65 high profile acts of senseless violence, including mass school shootings, mass stabbings, and even the intentional crashing of a commercial airplane, committed by individuals taking or withdrawing from psychiatric drugs, resulting in 357 dead and 336 wounded.”

This is clearly an exploding problem and we’re completely missing the point of where it’s coming from. Countless protests and news reports have emerged with the message of removing certain types of guns and gun accessories from the market without ever holding the manufacturer’s of these mind and emotion altering drugs accountable for their side effects.

What Can We Do Now?

It’s time to rise up and take aim with a unified American voice at the drug manufacturers who are profiting daily from these psychiatric drugs and to hold them accountable. Just look at what has come to light with the opioid crisis where drug makers were incentivizing doctors to prescribe more and higher doses of their drugs to patients. Don’t be deceived, these companies have their shareholders and financial bottom lines in mind more than doing the RIGHT thing for the public good.

It’s time to take in to account the drug use of individuals who are attempting to buy guns as part of the background check system. Simply removing the gun from the legal marketplace will do nothing to address the heart of the problem here. If a person is on one of these drugs, they need additional screening before being allowed to purchase a weapon or possibly denial.

This is not simply a gun problem, it’s a drug problem. An individual under the influence of these drugs’ side effects could take a vehicle and cause as much if not more damage as with a handgun. Should we ban the sell of vehicles? It’s time to go to the source of the problem and hold these psychiatric drug manufacturers responsible for the carnage being caused in part by their products.

It’s been said that up to 75% of football players are wearing a shocking piece of equipment during games–adult incontinence diapers. While it’s challenging to get players to honestly admit this, the reality is that at any point during a game someone on the sidelines or field of play is probably relieving themselves right out in the open.

Hydration Is Key

Consider the problem. These elite athletes must stay hydrated in order to continue performing at such high levels until the very last snap but where is all that water and Gatorade supposed to go? Coaches are not going to waste a timeout because their star tight end is still in the bathroom! According to a 2017 ESPN article by David Fleming, “Former Dolphins linebacker Channing Crowder’s solution was fairly simple: He says he wet his pants … in every one of his 82 games as a pro. As the Chargers drove toward a late field goal in 2011, kicker Nick Novak got caught kneeling by the bench midact, thanks to a CBS camera that lingered just long enough for the shot to include a graphic that suggested Novak’s ‘target’ was the 34-yard line. He fell a little short.” While that’s one way to deal with the problem, we all know there is another practical solution.

Depend For Men – This Year’s Best Super Bowl Commercial

With Super Bowl 52 just around the corner, everyone is waiting to see which commercial will stand out from the pack. Knowing this reality about the players on the field, the real question is why we haven’t seen a major endorsement deal from DEPEND? Their Fit-Flex Underwear for Men is the obvious choice for NFL players who need maximum absorbency with a comfortable fit that can last for the whole game.

While this 2012 commercial in partnership with the V Foundation was a funny way of raising awareness for men’s prostate health, it’s a no-brainer to have a true major endorsement deal between NFL players and this product. The only question is which player can pull it off?

We want to hear from you! Leave a comment here or on Facebook.

Which player do you think should be the new Depend For Men Spokesperson?

It’s been said for a long time, “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.” While there’s a lot of truth in that statement, it’s hard to find a better example than John Arwood and the way he operates his business. If you stop to think about it, every day we come across junk and waste in our lives. Maybe it’s household clutter or a garage that we’ve been meaning to clean out. Maybe it’s old business equipment that we think is outdated so we discard it for the newest, shiniest version. Whatever it is, it usually ends up taking space in a landfill. As the person in charge of hauling tons of this junk away, John Arwood and his company have always sought a better way.

Started At An Early Age

Getting his start at a young age collecting, reusing, and recycling glass bottles, scrap metals and wood while working alongside his father, John Arwood learned the foundations that have led to over 30 years of success in the waste disposal and sanitation industry. In 1978, Arwood was at work with his father, John C. Arwood, at a steel tank manufacturing factory when he realized that much of the scrap metal laying around as trash could be cleaned up and reused. With permission, he started collecting the small pieces in five gallon buckets to take home, clean, and sell back to be used again. Experiencing success through hard work to accomplish a unique vision sparked something in John Arwood that would drive him from that point forward. Since then, he has had over 30 years of success in the waste management and recycling industry–still, he’s never lost sight of the basics.

It’s How They Run Their Business

Businesses often make the same mistakes as individuals when it comes to trashing things too soon. At Arwood Waste, they believe in getting every ounce of life from what they use. “I regularly purchase my competitors equipment (garbage trucks, dumpsters, etc.) and then refurbish them to compete right back in the same markets they were retired from,” says Arwood. They’ve learned that with a little clean up work and repairs, they can apply the principle of “Re-Using” to reduce their costs and increase their profits.

A couple of other ways Arwood Waste works as a company to reduce their waste footprint is by utilizing electronic communications with their customers as much as possible and only printing with black ink. They email order confirmations, receipts and have an online form for just about everything related to the external and internal operations of their business. By contrast, most of their nationwide and local competitors send invoices with 3 to 4 sheets of paper, carbon copies and have multiple colors printed on them. When they do have to mail invoices, Arwood works to re-use the return envelopes they’ve received from others. These efforts keep them from generating unnecessary paper waste both inside and outside the company. From recycling “waste” fluids in their vehicles to re-using lunch table scraps for composting, almost nothing goes to waste at Arwood Waste.

Take The Reduce, Re-Use, Recycle Challenge Yourself

With every junk removal project, demolition job or roll off dumpster load John Arwood and his employees are keeping their eyes open for those hidden treasures. From toys that can be easily cleaned up and donated, to exercise and recreational equipment like bicycles with broken chains or just a busted tire. With just a little love (and if you know what to look for) so many of the items we throw away can live new lives.

Now it’s your turn. Before you throw away that next piece of “junk”, stop and think of how you might be able to repurpose it, donate it or re-use it. It’s good for the environment and might just save you some money!

Image: Alan Levine via Flickr

Every election cycle sees certain patterns repeated time and again, all for the purpose of evoking certain responses out of people or specific people groups. It’s not rocket science, in fact, it’s the most basic of psychological principles. If people perceive a threat to their personal or their family’s safety and well-being they either have a “fight or flight” response. They will either stand their ground, dig in to their position and fight in the direction they are going OR they will shelter, flee and hide. What this means for elections is that those people who’s response is “flight” will not show up on voting day leading to lower turnout and skewing the election in a specific way.

History Repeats Itself…

Throughout world history, the rise and fall of governments and individual leaders have been tied to how people perceive their safety and the health of their families. Note how the rise (or perceived rise) of specific epidemics and outbreaks correlate to major elections and political pivot points through history. Even looking at the last 100 years in the United States shows this. The Presidential Election of 1952, resulting in Dwight D. Eisenhower as President and Richard Nixon as Vice President, was at the peak of the Polio Epidemic which “created frenzy, frightening parents and prohibiting travel from city to city within the United States. Some towns were quarantined to protect the public from affected individuals,” according to Healthline. Then, in a matter of months a vaccine was discovered and this disease was on it’s way to eradication. A similar description of the Zika Virus might not be far off based on current depictions by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The elections of the 1980’s and 1990’s saw the rise of the AIDS Epidemic and multiple versions of Avian Flu outbreaks ultimately leading to the declaration of a worldwide pandemic. Fast forward to 2014 and the Ebola Outbreak in West Africa. By October of that mid-term election year there were suddenly a few, albeit isolated, cases on U.S. soil and that is all it took to have an affect on the November elections. Then, even before those elected politicians were sworn in to office, the Ebola threat was gone, just as had happened every other time before.

Who Pulls The Strings And Why?

We need to ask some hard questions here. How can this happen? It’s difficult, if not impossible, to assign blame to a single person or group for one of these viral or bacterial outbreaks (especially without hard proof). It is heart breaking to see the affects of these diseases that cost people their lives or destroy their quality of life. How can this happen in this day and age of medical and technological advancements? But those are not the questions we need to be asking.

These diseases and virus’ are rarely new. The question we need to ask is ‘Why now?’ Why are the talking heads in the media focusing on this now? Why are we hearing so much about a given epidemic at this particular time? What will our fear of contracting this current virus make us do…or NOT do in the near future? Why is the media focusing so much on this outbreak at this particular time? And not just in 2016, we need to ask these questions every time this happens!

Zika Is Coming! What Does This Mean For 2016?

Just like we learned from Chicken Little’s proclamations that the sky was falling, we need to be cautious of letting the fear that the news and political strategists would have us believe drive our actions one way or the other. What does this mean for the 2016 Election? It means that the perception is going to get worse…and then by January it will be gone.

Mark my words, in October 2016 nearly every news headline will feed the impending threat you feel. We will all feel the pull to either ‘fight’ or ‘flight’ in the hopes of some that we will react one way or the other as Tuesday, November 8th draws near. Then, suddenly, things will start to subside–regardless of who is elected.

If you’re like me and you’re tired of getting yanked around…tired of being treated like a pawn by the media and politicians, then stop it. Let’s ask the hard questions and look beyond just what we’re being fed to the timing and real motivations of those who would manipulate us.

Photo: Agressti Vanessa via Flickr