None of the Above

In light of all the recent headlines in the political realm, I'm reminded of the campaign put on by Montgomery Brewster in Brewster's Millions where he tried to get people to vote for "None of the Above."  Of course in the movie it backfired and people voted for him, but in today's times it seems a pretty tempting choice.  Do we choose the Socialist Democrat, the Lying Democrat, or the Brash Billionaire?  Okay, maybe he's not worth billions, but it's the catchiest thing I could think of at the moment.  I just saw a news story where a couple is about to make a lot of money by printing signs and bumper stickers that predict the end of the world with this election cycle.  I don't think that's the case though.  I, on the other hand, think that America is desperate for change, and all of the candidates at least have a little bit of love for this country and would like to do what they think is best, at least on some level.  And while "None of the Above" sounds catchy and funny, or even writing in Montgomery Brewster, in the end it wouldn't solve anything.  The best thing we can do for our country is to weigh all the pros and cons of each of the candidates, pray for guidance from above, and then vote what our hearts tell us is right.

There's Always One Thomas!

My drill sergeant in AIT used to always tell me "There's always one Thomas!"  By this he meant that there was always at least one soldier that was going to ask a stupid question right before we're all about to get released for a weekend pass that requires an hour long answer from a drill instructor, or there's always at least one soldier that is going to get caught breaking the rules and screw it up for everyone.  I can't tell you the number of times that has come true in my 11 years in the Army, but it's more than the number of hairs my three dogs shed over the course of a year!  The funny thing is, whenever it happened, my drill sergeant's voice would play that little catch phrase in my head over and over.  I think he knew that would happen, that little ...  Just kidding, I learned a lot from all my drill sergeants in AIT and basic training and I hold no ill feelings toward any of them.  It's their job to sharpen our skills, get us in shape, teach us to follow orders, and prepare us for life in the military in general.  Now that I've been out of the Army for a few years, I still find that phrase to be true.  What do you know? Somethings are exactly the same for military and civilians!  Now there's always at least one person that isn't paying attention at meetings and ends up asking a question at the end of the meeting, right before we're about to get to go home early with pay for the full day, and it's a question that was actually already answered in the first ten minutes of the meeting.  Yup, there's always one, and I still hear it in my drill sergeant's voice.