Peace, Tolerance, and a Chocolate Bar?~

The next time you are in the grocery store and trying desperately NOT to look at the candy in the check out aisle, don’t be mad at yourself for grabbing that delicious Hersey Bar, Mr. Good Bar, or Dove Chocolate pieces. A study led by Professor Ian Macdonald found that consumption of a cocoa drinks  rich in flavanols — a key ingredient of dark chocolate — boosts blood flow to key areas of the brain for two to three hours.  Consumption of chocolate has also been linked to creating endorphins (those are the neurotransmitters that make us happy), improving sleep, and decreasing stress.  Hey, that’s good news right?  I think so too.

I was thinking how one bite of a piece of candy has the ability to do so many things, in addition to adding calories to our diet that we may not want. The jest of this is not to bash nor encourage chocolate consumption, but rather to look at how this same thing can happen when we look at our thought process in forming certain beliefs and practices.

Right now in North Carolina, our state is faced with the issue of voting on Amendment One. This amendment has the ability to basically take our state back in progress.  Issues that surround Amendment One have people from all races, cultures, genders, and religious backgrounds questioning could their vote be one that supports something they may or may not believe it. Well, Amendment One is not about beliefs nor is it about judgment or criticism of a group of people.  Rather it is about taking recognition away from individuals just because they are not married.  If passed, Amendment One would be one of a handful of times our state constitution has been used TO TAKE AWAY RIGHTS RATHER THAN GRANT THEM. We would have to go back to over a hundred years to find similar instances (notably forbidding interracial marriage and taking away the right to vote from African-Americans) similar to this happening in history. 

So now, let’s go back to the chocolate bar scenario. Chocolate has the ability to add calories as we know, but there are so many other benefits to having that chocolate bar.  Sometimes, we have to look at the entire picture in order to truly understand the concept. Looking at one aspect of it does not do any of us good, and often can lead us to not understanding something very important.  In the past, we associated chocolate with calories and unhealthy eating; however, researching chocolate has shown the many benefits of chocolate-this is something we that many of never would have known. So, in forming opinions and beliefs, we should always fully research the topic to learn more about it.  Many times, it can be much more to it than we actually realized.  Now, I am off to have my Hersey Bar. Yum!