You’re in control

It pains me to see how many people are totally unaware of how much control we truly have over our lives. I have written post similar to what I am about to write, but I’d like to go more in depth with what I have learned in my life. About 99% of American society is made up of complainers, who constantly go on and on about how bad they have it and what is wrong with their lives. What these people fail to realize is that they can fix almost anything that they perceive as their troubles.

When people complain to me about things that they perceive as unchangeable, I tell them very bluntly to simply fix their problems. Often, they tell me that these problems aren’t fixable. 9 times out of 10, this is completely false. Tell me a problem you have with your life that can’t be fixed? While you may not be able to directly fix one specific problem, such as something you are born with, you can work on things that will help to solve the big picture problem. So you perceive yourself as physically ugly? Something you can’t change right? Wrong. Sure you can’t directly change your bone structure or skin type, you can however change other properties that make a person attractive such as your body type. Hit the gym, get in better shape than your average person and that already sets you above the average population. You say you don’t have any friends and/or socially awkward? Pick a person or group of people who you perceive as having the social ability you desire and study them.

I truly believe that the biggest difference between people who succeed and get what they want is simply deciding what they want to do and as cliche as it sounds, “just do it.” If you think about it, going after what you want already gives you a leg up on the average population because so many people discount themselves and sell themselves short because they think that they are not capable or a particular job is a job for someone else. For example, many leadership positions limit a ton of competition just because most people tell themselves they can’t do it. I have seen this first hand countless times and the people who get them are usually the ones who know they can perform the job better.

I’m going to keep this short and end this with these closing remarks: Think long and hard about the things you don’t like about your life. I highly doubt through properly thinking the issue out that you cannot change and improve your situation. People tend to dwell on their problems rather than taking action. Focus on what you can change and improve your situation, otherwise be content with your life.

RGM

Charlotte, what else do you want?

From the very first day I arrived at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, I  was struck by the lack of pride taken in this institution as a whole. I am not merely referring to a lack of pride by the student body, I am referring to much of the faculty and the surrounding community. Students don’t seem to care where they go, faculty often wear appearal of rivals while teaching class with almost no resistance, and the care taken by the Charlotte Observer to promote UNCC as well as retailers failing to promote this university is pathetic!

Frankly, I do not understand how people can be so blind as to not be able to realize what this university currently offers as well as the great things the future has in store. We have the fastest growing university in the state of North Carolina, our athletic program is very respectable and is coming up extremely quick, we have vasts resources and an abundance of great professors, and not to mention we are located in a beautiful city that has it all. The location of our university alone should be something all students and staff should take some pride in. For business majors especially, you are in a goldmine of nearby corporate headquarters that eagerly wait to hire UNC Charlotte grads. Did you know that Charlotte is the 3rd largest banking city in the world and the 2nd largest in the U.S.? Do you all realize what kind of networking power you have at your finger tips? People, this place is a diamond in the rough!

I look around and see my peers wearing the apparel of other colleges on the UNCC campus and it really rubs me the wrong way. As a member of this university, you should be a Charlotte fan first and then a fan of other teams if you chose. Our athletes are out there busting it every single day, practicing several hours before you even wake each morning to make our school look better. Give them respect! I’m not sure if any of you have been to any other universities in this country but I’ll tell you this, if I were to wear a rival school’s appearal at any ACC school, I wouldn’t be coming back unharmed. And don’t give me that crap about “well, ACC schools are so much more competitive in athletics.” If that is what you believe please come out to see some of our other teams other than just the basketball program (with all due respect to those athletes) and look at how many of our other sports have been destroying ACC teams for years. The golf team was ranked number 1 in the country last year. Should we not be proud of them? I know I am. Our university is young and it will take time to fully develop our athletic program. Take some pride in what we have now and have some foresight.

This complete apathy as a whole for such a wonderful university has gone on long enough. I feel it is time to take action with those who already love this school very much and the city that facilitates it. I plan on working very closely with the new student body president when he takes office in the Fall as well as many other UNCC leaders and staff members. All it will take is letting people see what we see. There are a good number of people at this unversity that have the same vision of what the future holds for Charlotte and are extremely excited about the things to come. UNC Charlotte, it is time to share our vision!

RGM

Dust in the wind

Reading back over the last several posts, I realized that I was conveying a little too much criticism of those who don’t think quite like I do. I always keep my mind open and I am always thinking. I like to challenge those around me to think outside of the small, stuffy box that the social mechanism tends to place us in. So, before I get into this post I want everyone who reads this blog to know that I appreciate all the feedback, support, and your continuing readership. I doubt that I actually offended anyone, but I was out of harmony with my own wavelength by writing that basically if you do not think in a way which I consider open, you are wrong and what not. Just don’t be afraid to expand your mind to possibilities is all I am saying. And this leads me into the meat of this post.

I think one of my greatest attributes is my need to always be thinking. This also tends to be my greatest downfall because while I tend to try to stay two steps ahead and analyze absolutely everything, I often become so wrapped up in my thoughts that I can become absent minded. Doctors would most likely diagnose me with ADD, like every other person of my generation, simply because I may be concentrating on something and get so lost in my thoughts, then *POOF* there goes an entire lecture class. What did my professor just say?! I was too busy thinking about how I can use the cost allocation my accounting teacher is talking about in order to reduce the amount of taxes my company would pay if I were a business owner to actually hear this portion of lecture. It happens all the time and I have to work very hard to restrain from creating my own lesson which may not follow the bulleted syllabus.

Something I really began to think about while I was at the grocery store a few days ago was how humans tend to think on such a small scale. I do it myself most of the time so I’m not claiming I am immune to it by any means. For example, we rarely think on a much broader scale than ourselves, our families and social circles. While I was in Food Lion, I would pass people and think about how each person has such a rich history and so many different elements to their lives. They all have problems, dreams, ambitions, and things they love very much just like everyone else. No matter how exciting or boring you think your life is, everyone has at least one thing that is interesting about them. We all are connected to much larger things that we simply don’t think about. Sure, we may consider what our politicians are telling us and how it affects our country, but we don’t really think about the 6 billion others just on this planet and how they are living, much less an infinitely large universe.

We occasionally think about genocide or food shortages with a “how sad” sigh and go on about our business. If it doesn’t directly affect us as a whole, we really don’t care too much. Only when it happens to you do most actually take a serious concern. Rarely, do we choose to think about the earth that has sustained us for so many years, but such a short amount of time in the grand scheme of things, when we try to think big picture. Our concerns are not with the natural world that has been here longer than us and will most likely be here longer than us if we don’t completely destroy it before we either have to congregate elsewhere or destroy our own kind. Why are we fighting with our brothers when we could be so much more efficient by working together? War is part of human nature. But why? Why do we really need it? Why can’t humans evolve to a point where greed and lust for land and resources are obsolete? What would happen if borders no longer existed and we all respected our fellow human-being? What if markets were really free and countries didn’t need to shut others out? What if we all really had the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness? How long will it be until humans will come to a fork in the road where we must choose between evolution and reverting to primitive emotions of hate? It will happen sometime, and right now it’s not looking too hot.

What are we afraid of? Why do you care if someone shares a different religious view than yourself if they in-turn respect your own? Why should the properties of light when it reflects on human skin matter? How does color define identity?  Why is there a need to ever put a person down? Why is it that we can come together and see our common interests when something bad happens, yet when things are going well we continue to alienate others and keep those different from us from succeeding? From simply striving to be happy like we all want to do? Why do we have to blame others and never take responsibility for our own actions? Most of the time our own actions are a direct correlation with outcome. Where does the human compulsion to be superior to all living things come from? Why do we think we know whats best for everything when we are such a young species? Why must we complicate everything? Maybe we are the butt of the joke within a living ecosystem that knows all and doesn’t have to question it’s existence, but we can’t understand that the answers are all here.

A long series of questions with no answers at the moment.

RGM

Six feet under

Each day people bury metallic boxes placed ever so gently in cement vaults to house the corpses of loved ones for all eternity. As everyone knows, caskets and the vaults they are buried in are designed to withstand the tests of time but very little thought is given to the process of using traditional cemeteries.

Putting any religious or other views of the afterlife aside, if you really stop to think about it a cemetery is a glorified landfill. John Doe down the street dies and we really don’t want to watch him decompose out in his front yard so we are going to put him underground. However, we want to organize things so we created a plot of land where we can discard all of our dead. Since we know that the decomposition process can make our stomachs a bit unsettled we pump him full of preservatives, put him in a box and then seal off the box in a big concrete vault to make the processes easier to think about. Ah, that’s better.

Millions of people in the U.S. die each day and the vast majority of them choose to be buried rather than cremated or other options. Hopefully you have taken notice that we use a ton of land for cemeteries that serve no real purpose. That land could be used for so many other things or left alone if it was previously forested for some type of reserve. I understand that some religions emphasize the preservation of the physical body. However, almost every major religion claims that once you are dead there is no need for the physical body and you will continue on to some type of afterlife. Therefore, why do so many people insist on having their dead bodies be placed in the ground to use up valuable land? In the times when religions were written, the population of the world was much smaller but the world has changed and we can’t be sacrificing a ridiculous amount of land to a dead body. Similarly, I can’t understand why there are people who are not organ donars? How can you be so selfish as to not let someone use your organs when you are dead if it will save a life in turn? I can promise you it will not hurt.

Not only do cemeteries take up entirely too much space, but they are polluting the earth. The definition of pollution according to Merriam-Webster is the act of contaminating an environment especially with man made wastes. We never like to consider our burial process as pollution because we are burying loved ones, but that is exactly what we are doing. Consider this: I dig a hoe in the ground and bury a soda can and that’s considered pollution because it is not biodegradable. On the other hand, I put a seven foot metal box in the ground and it’s not pollution only because I loved the person in it? Maybe I loved that soda can. Come on!

I know this post seems very insensitive, but it really isn’t. I fully understand what it’s like to lose a loved one and you want to have a place where you can mourn them as well as feel a connection to them. If this is the only reason for a cemetery then cremate them and put them in an urn. Rather than destroying land, the urn will take up about six inches on your mantel and you can visit them every single day. Cemeteries are just wasteful and we should move away from using them.

RGM

Dear people, please open your minds

“Space is big. Really big. You just won’t believe how vastly hugely mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it’s a long way down the road to the chemist, but that’s just peanuts to space.” -The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

For the majority of my life I have been astounded at how easily so many people can completely discredit any possibility of extraterrestrial life. Do many of you honestly believe that Earth is the only area that sustains life in a universe that the top scientists can only pretend to have an idea of how large it is? If so, you are extremely vain and a shallow thinker. You may take full offense to that if you choose to do so.

Our galaxy, the milky way, is a mere spec that is practically microscopic in the scale of our vast universe. The farthest stars in our galaxy are around 95,000 light years away which means that if we could travel the speed of light it would take us 95,000 years just to reach them. Did you hear what I just said? 95,000 years to reach these stars if we could propel ourselves at the speed of light in a galaxy that isn’t even a sneeze in Madison Square Garden with the lights off. The common argument I hear from most people is either “well, how come they haven’t come to earth?” or “why haven’t we found them?” Assuming these people don’t believe any UFO reports, which I can respect, I have several rebuttals in case the previous illustration didn’t quite click. First, assuming E.T.s have extremely advanced technology, it would still take them a very long time to arrive to Earth unless they are capable of altering time and space. Second, Earth is incredibly, incredibly small so the probability of another life form discovering the planet or having any interest in visiting the planet is an astronomically low percentage. We haven’t even discovered all the islands on our own planet for Christ sake! Third, who says that these life forms that are nearest to us necessarily have developed the technology for galactic travel? Look at the technology we have as humans, yet we have never physically visited a planet ourselves and the planet we did send a rover to is very close in a relative sense. Maybe we haven’t seen other life for the same reason they haven’t seen us. Science fiction has also created a false sense of what extraterrestrial life may be, so many people imagine E.T.s as being almost supernatural with an agenda to destroy our planet. If you think this way then you watch too much TV.

Consider the case of bacteria for spatial judgment of the universe. If bacteria were in fact “intelligent life” living on one person in LA, they would have no idea of living things in the next city over even, simply because of the sheer magnitude of distance. In fact, being that small in such a broad amount of space would make it almost impossible to even be aware of other bacteria living on the same organism they may be living on. Also, many people forget that a life form can be anything from bacteria, a cell, a tree, or whatever we want to define as “living”. Do you think that Earth is the only planet with a tree, bush, or anything that resembles the two? The problem with humans is our ego. We are determined to make ourselves the most important thing in the universe, because as we all know, the universe revolves around us. That’s why when we see a huge mountain or tall building it can take our breath away, because it makes us realize that we are small and insignificant, not this all-important, all-powerful, and top of the food chain delusions we walk around with everyday.

Also something else to ponder: there is very strong evidence to suggest that our universe, which seems infinitely large is only a grain of salt in a sea of other universes. Just thinking about this tends to scare many people because they begin to feel inferior once again. But think about what we simply know of the world around us, which isn’t even that much. Once again, consider microscopic life forms and the cells that make up the physical world. While we do know of the larger particles within a cell: protons, electronics, neutrons, it’s possible that cells could contain other things. Smaller life maybe? I’m no scientist so I can’t say, but if you think about how small bacteria is, who’s to say that we aren’t microscopic organisms? We may be microbes that are living inside of a universe that is basically a cell making up something else that could in turn be microscopic to another structure. To work backward, maybe there are bacteria living on bacteria. This may not be truth but why it should be discounted as impossible, plus it’s very fun for me to think about. I’m not telling everyone they must believe that there is life outside of Earth, I’m simply asking everyone to stop saying absolutely not, and instead say it is possible. Please step out of the box and use your head.

RGM

Heroes

We all have heroes;  The individuals who we use as templates to mold ourselves,  striving to follow in his or her footsteps. Some of us choose heroes who are athletes, political figures, scholars, inventors, musicians or incredible individuals that are often as close to home as our family. A hero or a role model is very important to have because it helps to channel positive thinking and allows us to have a concrete model of the person when dream of becoming. But what happens when you look up to someone your entire life.. and then surpass them in every way?

I have thought about this for a very long time and tried to conjure the emotions that must be felt when you become better at what you do than your hero. Athletics is the easiest to use as an example and is also the area I have thought about the most simply because the last portion of my life has been almost completely dedicated to it.  For me, my biggest running inspiration was the American distance runner Steve Prefontaine who was known for his unrelenting drive and desire to front-run. The vast majority of distance runner in the U.S. all grow up wanting to be just like Prefontaine in just about every aspect, but I can’t help but thinking what it would be like to become faster than him. I really don’t know what it would be like to surpass the race times of someone who I used for inspiration each day and put on a very high pedestal. In a smaller scale it would almost feel like beating god. I’m not calling Steve Prefontaine a god, but I put my thoughts and emotions into running much like a religion and he would be a figurehead of that. Granted, I would never see myself as being completely suprior to Pre since he did the things first and is an all around bad ass, but knowing I was faster would be a very complex mentality. I’ve always wondered who runners like Ryan Hall or Galen Rupp looked up to when they were younger and what its like to probably have surpassed every record their heroes ever held. I’m sure Lebron James looked up to Michael Jordan all his life and now what does it feel like to surpass his scoring record?

While everyone who reads this post should understand what I’m getting at, I feel like only those who have ever truly dedicated their life to something for a period of time will actually comprehend the guts of this post. Most of the recreational athletes(or any activity) dream of topping their heroes, but those of us that have made something such an important aspect of life will see it differently. Obviously when I was competing for Charlotte the goal was to be the best; a stronger, faster, higher mentality. Surpass your hero and then who do you look up to? Only yourself? Sure, but it would be extremely difficult not to get sucked into extreme vanity and become out of touch with reality, which I guess happens to many great athletes. This situation has always been a paradox type scenario to me. Think about it yourself.

RGM

The fork in the road

I would like to take this time to address a major change that has occurred in my life. Hopefully I will make everything clear as well as reach most of my friends so this can keep me from having to repeat myself or prevent any false information from developing.

As of Monday evening I am no longer a member of the UNC Charlotte cross country or track team. I hang up my blood-stained racing spikes and the 49er jersey with my toils ingrained in the deepest fibers. My running has been a long, hard, and beautiful journey, with intense emotional highs and the lowest of lows. I have met some of the most incredible people and it has shaped my life in many positive ways but I no longer feel that racing on a college team is serving me in the way that it once was.

I first started noticing that things were not the way they should be when I could no longer distinguish running from my everyday life. I built the structure of my days entirely around training, seven days a week for about 345 days out of the year. Naturally, this makes it easy for running to become the only thing of real substance in life. Running was no longer what I did- running became my identity. A bad workout would carry over to outside life making it almost impossible to ever fully escape thoughts about training when not doing it. The type of commitment it takes to be a part of a division 1 distance program is something that most will never know. Trying to explain to the general population exactly what you do to yourself physically, mentally, and emotionally on a daily basis as you try to become a better runner at this level is probably a lot like a soldier trying to explain what war is like to someone who has never fought. My situation was not one of being completely burned-out or a complete frustration with my coach like many of the seven other guys who have left since I have been a part of this program. My situation involved me comparing the things that I could accomplish while running competitively to the things that I could if I allocated my time elsewhere.

For a long time I fought off any thoughts I had of leaving the team, often too ashamed to even acknowledge them. The way I have been trained to operate in running is to just keep pushing, no matter what happens, just keep pushing forward. This mentality obviously conflicts with even thinking about leaving and for a long time the thoughts seemed blasphemous, getting depressed when I thought this way.
Then I began to allow myself to consider whether or not there might be more to life than just running fast. What would life be like if I didn’t have to neglect my friends and family because I had to put more value on the next day’s workout than spending time with them? Is it possible that there is more to life than just running fast?

I love running and I love the feeling of accomplishment that I can get while being on a college team but the math began to no longer add up. College is a short period of time in my life where I can be almost completely free of major responsibilities outside of just going to school and doing well, but by staying on the team I would continue this fast paced living where everyday is a blur to the next. I got tired of always having to pick at least one subject in school that I would designate as a “if I get time” course, which is a class where I know that there is physically not enough time in the day to always study properly or do the work. I got tired of having to almost completely give up playing music because I had no time to play guitar. I got tired of being tired, being tired at all times and struggling to keep my eyes open while trying to do my work. I got tired of hurting all the time.

I fully believe that everything about my personality and make-up is designed very well for college sports. I have no problem finding motivation, working hard, I have a very high pain tolerance, I dream big and I am blessed with a very strong body that is resistant to injury. The truth is I could have just as easily continued to run and remain on the team but there are just so many things I want to do before I graduate such as getting more involved with my freelance writing, getting more involved with the SGA, play music with other musicians, and enjoy the time with my friends, just to name a few. The work was not more than I could withstand, that was not the issue. I have absolutely no doubt in my mind that I could accomplish great feats in running if I continued to pursue them, but after stepping back and visualizing myself winning various individual titles vs. living a life outside of the constant strive to win, it just didn’t appeal to me as much as it should for the amount of work it takes.

Distance runners are the perfect model of human inability to never be satisfied. I tend to be very hard on myself with a lot of things, especially in running. Coaches have rarely gotten on to me about a poor performance because they have seen the kind of treatment I already douse myself with so they usually didn’t add to it. Distance running is a sport where you can never actually reach your goals. It’s much like placing everything you have ever wanted two inches from your hands but you are in an unbreakable glass box. I say this because anytime you reach your goal you immediately raise the bar before you can even enjoy what you just accomplished. As soon as you beat a pr(personal record) it no longer is a fast time and it is no longer special. I have met and studied many very good distance runners over the course of my life and I’m not sure I have ever seen one that is truly happy with themselves; I know I wasn’t one when I was running.

If someone were to ask me what the two best decisions I have made in my life thus far I would reply that they were joining the 49ers distance program and leaving it. I absolutely would not trade what I have done and experienced for any amount of money in this world. I have made so many great friends and learned more about myself than I ever would have imagined. I know how far I will truly go to accomplish something that I have set my mind to. I am also very happy I made the decision to leave the team when I did because I feel like I gained the most vital parts that are to be gained but I am leaving to pursue other loves in my life. I look back on my running career and feel happy and proud of what I accomplished. I came up from an underfunded high school program where I was under trained and under coached, but was able to train myself to become good enough to run on a varsity division one team and receive scholarship for it. I’m sure some people are going to be looking at me and wondering how I could just leave the potential to be a better athlete just lying on the table. I would like these people to know that I am not leaving any potential, I am simply shifting my potential from one thing to another and going to experiencing new things. With that being said, it has been an incredible ride but now it’s time to do some things differently. It’s a brand new life.

RGM

An update

As usual I have been very busy and quite a few things have happened since the last time I posted. I generally don’t write too many of these personal journal-style posts but I feel like I should give everyone some new content before I put up the good stuff this weekend. A more recent event that has happened is my appointment to the SGA Senate as a senator for the college of business. I am also working in the public relations committee within the senate and we have been busy planning events for homecoming this month. So far I feel really at home in this organization and have met some pretty interesting people. General elections for next school year will be taking place next month and I will need everyone’s help to put me back in office but I will go into that later when campaigning begins.

I have also been occupied with some writing that I have been doing outside of this blog, mainly journalism related. I’ve been working on advancing my freelancing career and I’m really starting to try and focus on developing relationships with editors at multiple newspapers as well as some magazines. The journalism class I am currently in keeps me busy with assignments and I’ve also been writing for the University Times a bit, however I am irritated with the UT at the moment for several reasons.

The initial complications with the UT were really only minor annoyances including things like inconsistencies with the way they signed my name, poor photo captioning, as well as choosing titles that clearly showed that the copy editor did not read my article and made assumptions based on the first couple of sentences. The editors would sign my name to my articles one week as Rob McCormick Jr. as I told them to and as Robert McCormick the next. Signing my name either way is fine but I just need consistency for two main reasons: the first, as silly as it sounds, being the fact that many people will not distinguish between Rob and Robert. I say this because by just adding Jr. at the end of my name confused many people who were unaware that I am indeed a Jr. The second problem with the inconsistencies is the fact that I am building a portfolio in case I ever need to show editors my work and by having name changes it appears as though I can’t choose an identity. However, it wasn’t until last week that I went from mildly annoyed to completely hot due to an article pertaining to the unfortunate and tragic death of my team mate Steven Archer. First of all this article wasn’t written by a new staff reporter, it was written by the editor in chief who should be one of the most seasoned journalists on staff. The first major problem with the article is the fact that Steven died Monday night and the article stated he died Tuesday. The second major beef I had with this article was the fact that absolutely no journalistic work was done what so ever. It would be one thing if the article came out the day after his death, but this article came out on Thursday which gives the UT ample time to source and do actual journalistic work. Not one phone call was made, not one interview was conducted and nothing was done that I would remotely call journalism. The article was basically the Charlotte Observer’s article with the date of death wrong and Coach Olesen’s quote cut in half. The third problem I had with this article was the fact that it was only 195 words which is five words shy of your most basic journalism story. I hate to break this to you editors of UT but this is not your basic news story. A student-athlete who is in good health and is one of Charlotte’s best long jumpers of all-time freakishly dies playing basketball and you guys brush it off like it’s a story about some kid’s calculator getting stolen or something. If you turned the page in the paper two of our basketball players got 3/4 of a page on regular rehabilitation that almost all athletes do weekly for Christ sakes! This got quite a few people I know who had no involvement on the team agitated. I could go on but since this is not the focus of the post I will not. I am also emotionally involved so therefore I am obviously biased.

On a more positive note I feel like my training is going quite well right now. Within the past three weeks I have had workouts that have been progressively the best of my life. I have been much happier with my running as well as all around in general because I haven’t been nearly as hard on myself. I tend to beat myself up pretty bad for not meeting my ridiculously high standards and I raise the bar every time I get even remotely close to meeting them. Everything feels like it’s falling into place though, I feel myself getting stronger by the day and I feel as though I am in a state of zen. I am definitely looking forward to tomorrow and the days that follow.

RGM

The Real War on Drugs

In 1971 Richard Nixon first used the term ‘War on Drugs’ to define the funding of law enforcement and other establishments to reduce the flow of illegal drugs coming in and out of the United States. Since then just about every presidential administration has pursued this fight against illegal substances, spending millions upon millions of of tax dollars. While this so called war on drugs sounds nice on paper, it has several major flaws that make it a hopeless battle.

The executive branch of the goverment has been steadily proposing and passing bills to increase the punishment of possings and distributing  illegal drugs over the years. The logic seems simple enough here, if they make the punishment harsh enough it will drastically decrease the amount of drug users and sellers right? Wrong. By increasing the punishment of illegal drug offenses causes two different, yet interrelated effects to drug transactions.

First, the distributors are much more enticed to go ahead and make profits worthwhile as the severity of punishment increases. A first offense dealer caught selling one kilogram of a heroin based mixture faces no less than ten years in prison and no more than life. If the buyer overdoses, the dealer is looking at a minimum of a $4,000,000 fine and no less than twenty years in prison. The same punishment is applied to distributing 1000 grams of marijuana(approximately 2.2 lbs). For dealers buying and selling domestically one kilogram heroin is quite expensive ranging from $100,000 and up based on purity. However, if one were to be willing to work internationally it could be acquired from Pakistan or other countries that specialize in heroin for around $2,500 per kilo. This price difference is partially created by the laws placed on distribution which makes it more to buy in the U.S. but much more profitable to sell. When distributors are arrested the purity of drug is not taken into consideration, just weight. Thus it makes no difference from a legal point of view if you are selling pure garbage with .02% heroin or 100% pure, either way you are getting a minimum of ten years in the pen, more than likely much more. As for marijuana, 2.2 lbs is not nearly as expensive bought domestically and is a very small amount of weight for a professional. Since the dealer is already looking at felony charges of at least ten years in prison they may as well sell enough weight to make themselves extremely rich.

Another issue we are facing here is the fact that with a felony charge of a minimum of ten years in prison for 2.2 lbs of pot or one kilo of heroin, a dealer will be much less reluctant to pull the trigger when things get hot. Not to mention the increased market price of heroin domestically means the dealer has a large sum of money riding on the line as well. Shooting a cop or any individual for that matter is an absolutely atrocious crime but law enforcement officers can’t act surprised when gun play comes on to the scene while pursing members of the drug trade. The increased severity of punishment also causes dealers to invest more deeply in heavy arms for protection. This not only endangers the lives of law enforcement officers but also funds other underground organizations.

What if the war on drugs isn’t a battle at all? What if the war on drugs is really market monopolization by our government? By controlling who can buy and sell drugs through legal action would allow the U.S. government to choose who gets the profits on big transactions and essentially would allow complete control over the entire domestic drug trade. Sound too far fetched to you? It shouldn’t. Many like to live in a state of ignorance where the U.S. government is the poster child of kindness and morality, claiming the government would never contribute to such a vile and immoral practice. I would like to ask these people to look at a history book and reconsider their argument. First of all, this very country was obtained by killing off and relocating the native people in the most horrible way imaginable. Once the U.S. didn’t want to be under English rule the people had a bloody revolt which, in the media today, would be called terrorism. Since then the U.S. had no problem with completely unraveling Western Africa by kidnapping millions of people, selling them for profit, and then enslaving them for two hundred years. When World War II rolled around the government felt it necessary to drop atomic bombs over Japan killing millions of innocent civilians, destroying Japan’s economy for decades. Foreign leaders that the United States deem to be a ‘threat to democracy’ are quickly tracked down and executed by special forces groups, often without the public knowing. I could go on with these examples for hours but a major thing to understand is the fact that a government is basically a corporation. Governments make profits, they have board members, and they have people working under it like a corporation. So why is the fact that the United States of America is controlling drug trade for intrinsic benefits hard to believe? Looking at the facts I think the war on drugs is a front.

I am by no means condoning drug use or distribution, I am simply stating that the current war on drugs is not coming anywhere near meeting it’s objectives if what the government claims is true. Being a college student I know that drugs are easier to access than alcohol for minors and are often used for this very reason. If the U.S. government really wants to take the supply of drugs off the streets they must do something drastically different because greater penalties only makes greater profits and greater violence.

The Yacht Club

Charlotte is a beautiful city

It’s been far too long since my last post! I have the new class schedule and practice intensity as well as time requirements are picking back up now that our indoor season is underway. I have still been spending a lot of time writing but most of it hasn’t been the kind of writing I do on my blog. I occasionally write for a website called Associated Content which is a pay per submission, working on some short stories, and working on developing connections with editors of several news papers. For those of you who are students at UNC Charlotte may have read my article in the University Times but if you have not and you’d like to you can check it out here: http://www.nineronline.com/features/keep_your_new_year_s_resolutions_on_track

Yesterday was a very eventful day that I believe is worth writing about. Yesterday morning some of my team mates and I were planning on driving up to Virginia Tech University to watch those who were racing this particular meet but we ran into some complications. For some reason there was a problem with the hatch-door sensor that wouldn’t recognize that the door was closed and an extremely annoying bell would constantly beep anytime the vehicle was in drive so she called the nearest Lexus dealership and they believed that it was a minor problem that could be fixed fairly quickly. Not the case. We ended up hanging out in the lounge, eating their food and drinking coffee for about 2 1/2 to 3 hours which was actually pretty fun despite the duration. However, due to the fact that it took so long we couldn’t make the meet.

While driving I was playing with the car’s Garmen and I noticed that there were several yacht clubs within the city limits of Charlotte. We found this pretty amusing so my friend and I began joking about being in one. This led to the creation of our pretend yacht club which we proceeded to mock the stereotypical old-money personality. Once we got back to my buddy’s apartment we decided we were going to play racquetball on campus and we dressed like we were going to play tennis in Beverly Hills. At this point in time, another one of my friends decided to join us in our game. Unfortunately when we arrived on campus the gym was closed for the entire weekend for Martin Luther King Jr. day. The joking about the yacht club gave us the idea to go downtown Charlotte dressed in suits and just explore the city so we went back to the apartment and put on the dope gear.

My two friends and I arrived downtown and just did whatever we felt like, going to the tops of every tall building we could get access to and plotted how we could get free food at a wedding reception. We had nothing but time and spent nearly five hours wondering around, stopping to get food at Hooter’s. I had my camera with me and took some great pictures. Downtown Charlotte is such a beautiful area and I have always wondered why most UNCC student’s, my self included, rarely go there except to go clubbing or the occasional meal at a special restaurant. One of the most interesting things about the expedition was the fact of how much more we could get away with being dressed the way we were. By get away with I mean getting clearance to areas of office buildings and other areas without being questioned by the security. I have always known that a well dressed individual is going to appear more trustworthy as well as appear to have more of a purpose than another person who is dressed casual but seeing this in practice was cool. I know for a fact that if we were wearing jeans and hoodies we would not be able to do 1/4 of the things we did. The best thing of all was we all had an absolute blast and didn’t spend a single dime except to eat! Go out and explore your city, no matter how many times you’ve done it you will always find something new that is worthwhile.

RGM