As you may have noticed I’ve been following Change.Org for the last couple of weeks and especially their initiative to identify the Top 10 ideas to present to the Obama Administration on 16th January. I realise that I may be getting a bit pushy about this and I promise this is the last time I’ll mention it. Here are the 2 ideas I’m supporting:
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I know it’s idealistic, dreamy and naive and all that. A chance to change the world, peace in our lifetime etc. blah blah blah. BUT it is an opportunity to get some new ideas in front of possibly the most powerful man in the world – at least he will be for the next few years.
All it takes is a few minutes of your time and at least if you vote you can say you did something! And with global consciousness engulfing us (ok! – lapping at our feet) Obama’s priorities are not just an American agenda. Voting closes on 15th January at 17.00 ET (I assume that’s US Eastern Time).
At the time of writing ‘Bridging the Empathy Gap‘ is currently languishing at the respectable yet completely useless position of 15th 14th overall and needs at least another 1,100 800 votes to get in the top 10 assuming the ones above don’t get any more votes. ‘Appoint Secretary of Peace’ is doing rather better at 9th 8th place but still needs support to keep it in the top 10.
By my estimation, if just one person reading this can mobilise 1,000 people to cast a vote for these 2 ideas then we’ve made it. Or 10 of you mobilising 100 people each? Or … you get the picture? I’m fairly new to this blogging and networking world and my guess is that some of you reading this are not and probably have a much better idea how to achieve voting for these ideas on a large scale? Anyone?
Now you’re probably wondering about the title of the post and what it’s got to do with any of this.
If you take a look at the current top 10 most popular ideas you’ll see there are some really great causes in there. Health, education, environment. Right in there at the top spot is that urgent and critical challenge that will surely shape the future of our species. Billions of people around the world will be breathing (or inhaling) a collective sigh of relief when they see the most popular idea. The one that will be at the top of the list presented to the new President. You guessed it…. ‘Legalise Marijuana’.
I’ll pause here for you to take this in.
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I’m guessing there are sound reasons for this proposal and it apparently has a lot of support. But is this really the most pressing issue facing the new President???? Really! Come on. Let’s vote for stuff that’s important!
I’ll finish by telling you about my one and only encounter with marijuana.
Many years ago I was living in Reading, UK in a ground floor apartment with the landlord living in the apartment above. Reading is host to a major annual rock festival and my landlord supplemented his income by selling marijuana to those attending the concerts. I guess they needed it to distract them from the rain and mud that goes hand in hand with any outdoor event in the UK. He grew the marijuana in a greenhouse in the back yard of our apartments, carefully concealed by a sheet of transparent plastic.
Being somewhat curious whilst not having a clue what I was doing I decided to try it out. I waited until I was sure there was no-one around and took two or three leaves from the plants in the greenhouse and took them inside. I remember feeling very worried about being caught.
What to do with these leaves? I had some vague idea that you smoke the stuff and probably that meant the leaves needed to be dried and then wrapped in paper. I was a bit impatient to see what all the fuss was all about so I put the leaves in the oven and prepared some newspaper to put it in. After a couple of minutes I removed the leaves and I watched in horror as they turned into dust in my hands. I was too nervous to go get some more so I never did find out what all the fuss was about.
I imagine though that if marijuana had been legal then I wouldn’t have been nervous, I’d have gone for some more leaves and would today be a very different person. So you see … legalising marijuana is clearly the number one priority in order to save young men, such as I was, from making complete fools of themselves!
