PB&J with the crusts cut off

How much can you tell about a person by the way they make a peanut butter and jelly (PB&J) sandwich?

I heard someone on some news station refer to the "sandwich generation". Who is that? I immediately thought, "Doesn't everyone eat sandwiches?". So, he was probably talking about me.

I just finished a PB&J sandwich for lunch today. It is funny where the mind can go to while performing every-day tasks. For instance, as I made my PB&J I was having some peanut butter issues. My wife purchased some more 'natural' style of peanut butter, which has all of the oil at the top when you buy it. It is no doubt a healthier choice, because of the sweat you break while trying to mix the whole thing up upon first entry into the jar.

I didn't get to this jar when it was first opened, and the first mixing was less than thorough. Now, more than half way through the jar, there is no oil to be found. The peanut butter is practically the consistency of near-set concrete.

As I worked the butter-knife with the same energy needed to swing a broad sword, I thought back to a comment a High school friend once made while we were watching "The Wall". "That has got to be the driest sandwich anyone has ever made", he said as we watched the young "Pink" enjoy his after-school sandwich. I think I topped that one today. I know I topped that one today - and it wasn't for a lack of jelly!

Ordinarily, I am a stress tester of bread. My personal goal when making a PB&J is to put enough peanut butter on it to ensure I'll feel the weight of it in my belly. As far as jelly is concerned, it has always been my belief that the goal of jelly application is to put as much on as possible without causing a bread-rupture or jelly loss during consumption. Surely that must say something about who I am.

What about people who don't eat PB&J? Or what about people who refuse to eat the crust of the bread? How about people who only eat PB&J that has been prepared for them by someone else?

I think there is a great deal we can learn about ourselves, and our fellow man (woman) through the analysis of PB&J tendencies.

What do you think?

Gun Control

In his Commonplace book, Thomas Jefferson quoted Cesare, Marquis of Beccaria.

"Laws that forbid the carrying of arms ... disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes ... Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man."

Today we can hear debates that continue to degrade our liberties. There are some who would not stop until The United States of America was a prison. Much to their dismay, perhaps it will only be then that they realize that drugs, and homicide are even uncontrollable in prisons. If we cannot even prevent drugs and homicide under the strictest of monitored and restricted circumstances of prison, how can we hope to stop them in a free public?

We must examine our methods. A new approach is required. If you live in America, you must have heard the phrase: "Guns don't kill people, people kill people." It is true. It is our human condition that must change if we are to stop violent crime. I know of an organization that is changing the world one man at a time. You can check out The Mankind Project at their website: www.mkp.org.