Life, Liberty and the Perfect Tan

I was watching the news tonight when a report came on that legislators in the county I live in are considering making it illegal for teens to go to a tanning salon. During the report several teenage girls spluttered on incoherently about being deprived of their "rights."

This is probably more evidence that the public school system is failing to teach children, but more likely it shows that society itself has blurred the line between rights and privileges.

In the Declaration of Independence it reads, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

So just what are rights, and what are privileges? As the Declaration rightly states, Rights are bestowed by God. Privileges are granted and revoked by man. It's just that simple. A driver's license is a privilege, not a right. Freedom is a right, but in many countries it is a seriously restricted privilege, if that.

Getting a tan is not a right. Take advantage of your privilege to receive an education and learn the difference.

You can read about the "tanning ban" here.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Genealogy. It's all Relative

Genealogy is a pursuit where you'll never know what you may turn up. Or the fascinating things that drop in your lap. Some people approach genealogy wanting to prove some old family legend. Some just are curious about how their family got to where it is. And others, well, some others want to see what they can get from someone. Once upon a time, not very long ago, a man came in to the Family History Library and wanted to trace the descendants of a European royal (any royal, pick one -- no kidding!) to see if he was a descendant. We explained it was easier to go backwards from your self and see where you connect up. He didn't like that answer, and I don't think he ever came back. Someone once said the easiest way to trace your family history is to run for office. There's a lot of truth in that old chestnut. So the other day I was glancing through the online Deseret News and noticed an article about Mitt Romney and his LDS roots. As I was reading the article, I cam...
Read more

The ST XI Screenwriters Speak

TrekWeb posted an excerpt from an MTV interview with the screenwriters for ST XI. The TrekWeb article can be found here . Here's some highlights: "The challenge of the movie is to be 100 percent true to the fanbase but also to bring in a whole new group of people who've never seen 'Trek' before," Kurtzman said. >My comment: Isn't that what they've all said before? And how well did it work? Of course, this one just might do it. Maybe. Orci and Kurtzman also confirmed that the film is not in any way a prequel but a reimagining of the franchise. Whether that means a whole new look for Star Trek remains in question. "We're not going to start totally from scratch," Orci said. "We want it to feel like it's updated and of the now. That's actually the discussions we're having now: how to keep the look of the universe yet have it not look like nothing's new. It's tricky." >My comment: Reimagining is so cliche....
Read more