's motd Sat Oct 11, 2008

[Guest guest]

THE GREAT DEBATE

Saturday, 11 October 2008

So far, I have watched the two Presidential debates and the one debate between the Vice-presidential candidates. They were all so interesting to me. One of the reasons they interest me so much is because when I was in high school, I was on my school's debate team. So what is a debate, really?

Well, a debate is sort of an "argument," really, only it's usually done with a lot more rules and order. When I was on my school's debate team, we had one view on the debate topic while our competing team took the opposing view. Then for 90 minutes, we'd argue our two views back and forth. Even though we were only high school students, the subjects we debated were often very serious ones.

In the Presidential debates, the big subject right now is the nation's economy. Majorities in both the House and Senate, last week, passed this huge, 700 billion dollar plan to rescue the country's financial markets. (Whew! That's a lot of money!) We can all debate forever whether this is a good bill or a bad bill. We'll just have to wait and see.There's also a lot of debate among the candidates about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Do we stay? Do we bring our troops home? How will we resolves these conflicts in the best interest of our country? Tough questions, right?I sit there in front of the TV listening intently to the candidates making their points and counterpoints. I hang on their every word. But you know what? There's another kind of "debate." I'm talking about the internal kind. There's usually no "opposing team" with these debates. You know, these are debates that we have with ourselves.One of those personal debates we have might go like this: "Oh, just look at this dessert menu. (Gasp), they have chocolate soufflé with fresh whipped cream! Oh! I'd love to have it so bad! I can't remember the last time I had chocolate soufflé. But I can remember that it tastes out of this world! It really isn't a dessert you can make at home, unless you're a pastry chef! Oh, I see a lady having it at that other table. M-m-m-m-m, it looks remarkable. Okay, that's it! When our server comes back to the table, I'm going to order it for myself!"

Then comes the rebuttal: "Chocolate souffle? What, are you out of your Willy Wonka mind? You know what's in chocolate souffle! Eggs, sugar, cream and lots of fat calories! Do you really think you need one? You know you have 60 pounds to lose. You've had your fill of chocolate souffles for a long time. So just calm yourself down and have some fresh fruit for dessert instead. I talk to you like this because I know how long you've struggled with making the right decisions about food. Now listen to me. You've got to stay on program if you want to see those pounds go down!"Yep, it's the age-old angel on one shoulder and devil on the other argument, isn't it? You debate about whether you're going to eat right or...are you going to be bad and splurge. You might also have a debate with yourself over whether you're going to do the right thing by exercising today. Oh, it's okay. Keep on debating with yourself but I want you to always end up on the winning side of your little personal debate team. Practice being on the right side of the subject and you'll win the great debate with yourself, every time!

Love,