McDonalds, Artists, etc.

Why can’t we all just get along? I don’t understand the folks who want to (even Love to) tell others how to live, where to shop, what to eat, how to dress, etc. What ever happened to “Live and Let Live”?

I love cheeseburgers. But, I have never once gone up to someone eating a salad and suggested they eat a burger instead. I also love fried chicken. Yet, I have never felt the urge to post anything on the chat list suggesting everyone in Chatham County should eat fried chicken every day instead of whatever type of vegie diet they might be on.

And I have never felt the urge to insist the Farmer’s Market should close because they don’t see enough greasy spoon items. Heck – I’ve even shopped there. Bought Vegies!! To go with my Cheeseburger and Fried Chicken!! I’ll probably shop there this week. For Tomatoes!!

I believe we all should live and let live. If you enjoy a “healthy” diet, rock on!! You won’t find me lecturing you on the fact that no matter how healthy you eat, you’re going to die one day anyway. If you gave up on eating meat and animal produced food products – cool. Doesn’t bother me. Why should my eating habits bother you??? Your eating habits don’t interest me in the least.

Personally, I agree that the doctors are probably right and we all could stand living a better lifestyle and learning to make better food choices. But, bottom line: I don’t want to die tomorrow and know my last meal was tofu and bean sprouts. I want to “go out” eating something I consider wonderful like a hot fudge sundae from the Soda Shoppe. Extra Cherries Please!! If I die before I finish it – have Gene or Vickie put the rest in my coffin and I’ll finish it later!! I just don’t like tofu. Not much on vegie burgers either.

And yes, I know there is more to chose from than tofu and veggie burgers. Geez. I have cookbooks and cable tv and know how to get recipes from the internet.

The Spice of Life is Variety!!! If we all thought alike, ate alike, shopped alike, dressed alike – who would we talk about??? Or – in some cases, complain about??? What a boring world that would be!!

Therefore, bring on McDonald’s!!! Yep – still looking forward to that Mega Mall everyone was fussing about a few months ago. I hope they have a nice craft store. I’m tired of driving to who knows where to find craft supplies. But – that’s changing the subject.

The difference is – I’m willing to do my thing and want you to enjoy doing your thing. I just don’t feel the need to tell others what to do. And I wonder why others feel the need to tell me (and those like me) what to do. Why can’t you just eat your veggie lunch and let me eat my McDonald’s lunch and we all just get along???

I will finish with a short – and very true – story. I’ll leave the names out – so you’ll have to just guess where and who. Yes – it was Chatham County. Yes – its a true story. A grandmother gave her grandson a few (maybe 5??) acres of land as a wedding present. The land was located on a farm that had been owned by the family for many years. A truly beautiful tract of land. He could pick the spot. You have to admit – this was a very nice wedding present. So, he picked his spot and set about building a house for his new bride.

But, some folks had bought a house across the road from the farm a few years before all of this – and they enjoyed sitting on their porch and looking out over the farm land. It just so happened, the grandson had picked a spot directly across the street from these folks and his new house was blocking their view. Horrors!!! The Nerve!! They wanted to go to court to keep him from building his house on his own property because it would block their view!!! They couldn’t have cared less about the fact that they didn’t own the land – he did, and he chose it because of the view HE would have of HIS own land.

Now – wait a minute. They didn’t own the farm. Their deed did not include the view of the farm. They were never guaranteed the farm would always exists “as is”. And, when the grandson offered to sell them the land and he would build his house elsewhere – they refused. They didn’t want to spend any money to keep their view – they just wanted to tell him what to do with his land. Land they didn’t own and didn’t want to buy. They just wanted to tell him what to do.

He built his house. They are still pouting I guess.

The moral of this story is: if you don’t want McDonald’s, the mall, Taco Bell, etc. here – why don’t you buy the land??? Then you can do whatever you want to on it. I don’t run around town telling folks to avoid The General Store because they serve veggie foods there. Please don’t run around telling me to avoid McDonald’s.

Let’s all Live and Let Live – and just Get Along!!! You do your thing – I’ll do mine!! And since we are not all alike – we all have something to talk and complain about.

Linda Allred Cooper
Chathamite since the 1740’s