By Rich Miller, Exec. Dir.
Gaming Industry Association
A recent column in one of the papers I read on a daily basis discussed a story in the Washington Post about a study that found "a startling number of Americans are socially isolated, lacking confidants with whom to discuss their troubles."
I couldn't find out how much the National Science Foundation paid for this study, but I'm sure it was too much--they could have asked almost any bartender and gotten the same information for the price of a drink.
According to the columnist, the study and a book on the same subject both cite the usual litany of ills that seem to garner the blame for everything; television, working two jobs, increased job stress, divorce, public schools, etc.
I have a different thought: I think all of these studies are the problem!
One study says a drink or two a day is going to make you healthier, another says you are killing yourself.
One says the pollutants "big business" are producing are destroying your quality of life, another that economic development is the engine of improved standards of living. Cut a tree, plant a tree, burn coal, burn gas, use renewable energy sources, nuclear power is clean and safe, nuclear power plants will destroy the human race... I'm confused.
People talking on cell phones are the most dangerous drivers on the road, but how can that be when the same claims are made for people who are impaired by alcohol, prescription drugs, cold medicines, old age or youth?
Coffee, cigarettes, marijuana, beef, eggs and butter will kill you or are they medicinally beneficial--pick a position; there is a study to support you.
Religion is the one true path, but religious wars kill more people every year than all other causes combined. God has the answers and is the only way, but whose god are you talking about? What happens when we are all prepared to die for our god?
Take a stand on principle and get involved. Compromise is the only way to resolve conflict. How can I compromise my principles?
Is it any wonder we don't have other people to confide in when all of these studies encourage hard-line positions that cannot help but bring us into conflict with other people with as strongly held but opposite beliefs supported by a different study?
My point: lighten up and live with your beliefs. All these studies are guides, not gospel.
Source: The Montana Tavern Times, Oct., 2006, published monthly by Continental Communications, 125 W. Granite St., Suite 102, Butte, MT 59701.