By Jerry Riley

Do we think about things that deserve thought? I know sometimes I give more thought to my columns than you might think I do. (Sometimes more than they deserve, too.) We need to give thought to the things we should think about rather than waste time thinking about things that don’t deserve a second thought.
What are the things we spend time thinking about? Well, different people think about different things. Some deserve thought and others, well, I guess if you have to think about thinking about something, you are thinking about it. [Ed. Please do not try using that sentence at home. You might get hurt!] Many people are constantly thinking about their caloric intake or how to lose weight. According to my research, Ewan McNay said, “A rough calculation suggests that thinking hard about a task for 30 minutes might burn about 1/30th of a gram of fat. Thinking is not likely to turn an intellectual couch potato into a lean machine” – what a revoltin’ development that is!
Many people think about politics, though some really don’t think they think about politics. I say, think about it. We think about the economy, taxes, and how we are affected. This is politics. Mostly when we think of politics we think about elections and political parties, but the term is often applied to the art or science of running governmental or state affairs. It also refers to behavior within civil governments– something all the tax payers and voters should think about.
One of the best things about thinking is that you can’t be arrested for what you think. Sometimes you can be arrested for not thinking; other times, you can be elected.