Heart Matters

Since moving to Georgia my wife and I have seen many large trucks with decorative emblems and things that are plugged in where a trailer hitch would normally go. There are boat propellers, Dodge and Ford emblems, demons with red eyes that light up when the brakes are in use, and other creative designs. There are also trucks with large scrotum hanging from the hitch, and they are very life-like in appearance. It is funny and somewhat gross at the same time, but I just think, "oh those crazy rednecks." Unfortunately for those choosing this as their "prop," important people now have a couple of issues with their choice of decorations.

It seems that the issue has found its way into the national spotlight. The movers and shakers in Virginia's legislative body are saying no more. The proposed law, in a nutshell, would make it a misdemeanor to display human genitalia look-alikes on a motor vehicle. I'm torn between the two sides, because it takes cajones to be on either side of this one.

The real point here is now upon us; While on the American Heart Association web page, I signed up to be contacted whenever a letter needs to be sent to solicit the support of our legal representatives in the government. We need to get help to fund things like the research to prevent heart disease, which they say is the number one killer in our country. Surely an issue like heart disease is worthy of ongoing and unsolicited support. It's not like it needs to be re-addressed as a new issue every time congress meets. I saw a t-shirt that said "I'm not fat, I'm American." Enough said. Lets just fund the cause as if it were at least as important as look-a-like genitalia. But, you know what, the genitalia thing is a misdemeanor and therefore has a chance to raise revenue. Heart research is just an ongoing burden that provides no revenue.

How do you even decide to hang genitalia from your truck? Maybe they can hang them from the back of their hat instead. They will keep the flies away, like a cow swishing it's tail. Sometimes things that hang from hats have value. Consider the men in the outback of Australia with bits of cork dangling from their hats as they are out waltzing Matilda under the shade of a Koolaba tree. Of course there is always a tense moment when one of them realizes his pieces of cork are inferior in size. "Hey, your cork is bigger than mine," they might say...This is going no where good and I should just leave it alone.

So, visit your AHA website and pledge to write to congress, and, as always, leave the human look-a-like genitalia at home.