Posted July 9, 2010
It is summer vacation and, if the weather forecast is accurate, it is a perfect time to hit the beach, right?
Oh, but wait: Make sure you first cover up your head with a good shade hat and slather on plenty of sunscreen.
Hold that thought: Too much sun protection, it turns out, can deprive you of the Vitamin D necessary to build strong bones. And wait a minute, a new report finds that a lot of those lotions don’t work as well as advertised anyway. What’s more, all that gunk washing off is turning our oceans into the Gulf of Mexico.
Sheesh! What’s a responsible person to do?
The debate over sunscreen is among the many mixed messages we must sort out while muddling through life.
–Coffee helps stimulate energy and boosts alertness. Or, it’s an addictive drug that leads to all sorts of neurologic and gastrointestinal disorders.
–Reckless spending has driven the nation deeply into debt, so we must cut up our credit carts and begin saving for the future. Hold on! We’re putting too much money into bank accounts and not buying enough goods and services to support the economy. Merchants are losing business and people are losing their jobs.
–Seat belts save lives, and we will arrest you if you’re not wearing one while driving or if you don’t strap in young passengers — unless they’re riding in a school bus.
–Helmets also save lives, and the law says young people must wear them while riding bicycles. Adult bike riders, though, and motorcyclists don’t have to wear them, at least according to some states’ laws. Evidently they’re thickheaded.
–Apparently our kids goof off too much and don’t spend nearly enough time studying, so students in other countries are getting ahead of them. But what of all those warnings that hectic schedules involving soccer, piano lessons and long homework assignments never leave children time to learn how to have fun and simply play?
Perhaps the best advice comes from Aristotle: “All things in moderation.” Except some authorities say the celebrated Greek philosopher didn’t originate that phrase — Pascal did. Or maybe it came from the Bible.
Oh well, you get the idea.
To see more of The Day, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.theday.com.
Copyright © 2010, The Day, New London, Conn.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.