Are you tired of Top Ten Lists? Me too! So here are my Top Ten reasons why not to make a Top Ten List.

Reason #10 — People may think you are trying to be like David Letterman when you make a Top Ten List.

Reason #9 — You can only think of 6 items to include on your Top Ten List.

Reason #8 — You dislike making decisions.

Reason #7 – You are concerned that your spouse will make you balance the check book if she or he knows you can count to ten.

Reason #6 for not making a Top Ten List — You can think of anything that interests you enough to count and sort out ten of them.

Reason #5 – You really don’t want David Letterman to sue you.

Reason #4 — Nobody will read your Top Ten List anyway.

Reason #3 — If it’s not Number One, it’s not worth writing down.

Reason #2 — Every time you get your Top Ten List in order you have a strong compulsion to rearrange it.

And the #1 reason not to make a Top Ten List is:

— You are still heart broken over Melinda Doolittle getting voted off American Idol’s List at #3.

Our society has all but dumped the idea of right and wrong — moral and immoral. And that means we are headed for a difficult future.

Government can make throwing liter on the road illegal, but if people choose to continue to throw out trash, what good is that law? What good is a 55mph speed limit on the Interstates in downtown Nashville if almost nobody chooses to drive that speed? What good are the drug laws if they are not obeyed or enforced?

Sure laws have influence on individual choices. Sometimes laws and punishments will deter wrongful or self-destructive behavior in individuals, but not always. Law and order policies can only go so far in regulating society. (This is even more of a challenge in a free society because the enforcement of our laws is limited by our “Bill of Rights”.)

If fear of punishment is the only reason people obey laws, they will break them the moment they think they can get by with it. And that is happening today.

Somewhat even handed law enforcement is a great blessing to any society. But even good law enforcement can’t make people obey the rules.

Something more is need for that – conscience. When people have a strong and active conscience, the law enforcement is inside them. They obey laws not because they don’t want to get caught breaking them, but because obeying the rules is the right thing to do.

Society needs individuals with a strong sense of right and wrong — moral and immoral. We need people who have a sensitive and good conscience. Without people who believe in right and wrong our society will eventually turn to either chaos or totalitarianism.

Each of us can improve our society by sensitizing our conscience. If enough of us will begin to listen to our conscience and do the right things, we will have a much greater impact on society than government ever could.

Motivation Quotation: “It is physically impossible to remain blue and depressed if you are acting out the symptoms of being radiantly happy.” –Dale Carnegie

Motivation Quotation Commentary: Now that's a bold claim — impossible! I took Dale Carnegie’s challenge and tried acting radiantly happy. It really works! I just can’t remain blue when I am acting that way.

Go ahead! Try it for yourself. Act like you just won the lottery! Or like your favorite team just won the Super Bowl! Or like you have just achieved a goal you have been working toward for years! Come on. Act like Jimmy Stewart as “George Bailey” in the movie “It’s A Wonderful Life” after everything he lost is suddenly returned to him!

Yeah! Just thinking about it begins to make you feel better, doesn’t it? OK, now get up from your computer, clap your hands, smile from ear-to-ear, lift up a cheer, and dance around the room for awhile. Then come back and finish reading this blog post.

I’m back. (I can’t expect you to do it if I’m not willing to do it myself!) Boy, was that exhilarating! If you did it, too, you’re feeling pretty good now! Oh, yeah! Dale Carnegie was right, it really works, doesn’t it?

So how can you apply this in your daily life? Well, you probably don’t want to act that enthusiastic all day long. So just do this — act 10% better than you feel every day. Here’s how. Rank yourself every morning on how you are feeling (from 1 to 10). 1 is terrible and 10 is wonderful. Let’s just say you are a 5 today. Ok, then the rest of the day act like you are a 6. Just act one number better than you feel. Got it?

Try it today. It will amaze you how much better positive acting will make you feel.

I recently read a report that a woman in Pittsburgh was charged with the crime of “the abuse of a corpse” because she had the remains of her miscarried child in her freezer. The medical examiner, Dr. Karl E. Williams did an autopsy and found that the 20-week old unborn child had died naturally. The woman was not able to post $500,000 bond so she remained in jail.

Questions: Why does the law protect the dead body of a miscarried child but not protect the living child before it is born? If it is a crime to freeze and keep the remains of your own miscarried child, why isn’t it a crime for doctors to kill a living unborn child? Is there a double standard here? If the dead baby is worth protecting, why not the living baby as well?

Final Question: The woman was charged with “the abuse of a corpse”. How can a “fetus” which according to abortion laws isn’t a living human being, suddenly become a corpse when he or she is dead and frozen in a freezer?

The Rosa Parks Act passed the Tennessee legislature recently 88-6 in the House and unanimously in the Senate. The act gives those with crimes on their records for breaking laws to protest racial discrimination the option of having their records expunged. This is a positive act of social justice and racial reconciliation for Tennessee.

The state Senate Democratic Leader, Jim Kyle, said: “This is important because it recognizes that people did risk incarceration for social change and that they ultimately prevailed. They should not have the stigma of that incarceration or be put in the same class as other folks who simply just committed crimes.”

America has a history of courageous civil disobedience to unjust laws. The men, women, and children who protested and were arrested for equal rights in the Civil Rights Movement are heroes. The Tennessee legislature did a great thing to remove their official status as “criminals”. It would be great if the Tennessee legislature would also proclaim them as Human Rights Champions.