HUMAN BODY SACRED TEMPLE MANY LAY TO RUIN

When was the last time you lovingly explained to your children that
one's body is a sacred temple, a gift from God?

How about explaining it with the example you set?

By the looks of the slovenly, zombie-like, dangerously overweight and
disgustingly mutilated sacred temples I see out there these days, one
thing is painfully apparent. Very few parents have imparted that message.

During my DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) presentations at
schools across the land, when asked, not a single child has ever heard
the phrase "sacred temple" used to refer to his or her body.

There are so many tattoos and pierced body parts on American kids that
in order to really be different nowadays, you simply have to choose to
not get a tattoo or piercing.

The sheeping of America is almost complete. Righteous defiance would
be a nice change.

Now, mind you, doing these silly things to one's body is no indicator
of a criminal mind or worthless character.

Though every meth-infested felon I have ever seen appears to exhibit
these traits, I know many decent, caring and even heroic Americans -
salt-of-the-earth folks - who on the surface look like uprising voodoo
Zulu warriors. Only the bone in the nose and a headdress on fire are
missing.

In fact, some of the greatest heroes who have ever lived have these
body alterations. Many brave warriors of the U.S. military and the
heroes on Sept. 11, 2001, they who courageously dashed into the fiery
towers, had tattoos and piercings. Know this.

But if I hear another family squawk that it "can't make ends meet"
while wasting money on such superfluous indulgences, I think I am
going to puke.

Let me get this straight: We need a $6 billion-a-year wasted
government school lunch program because American families claim they
cannot afford to make Johnny and Suzie a peanut butter and jelly
sandwich - the same parents who can smoke, drink and afford tattoos.

A diet of abject irresponsible waste and body-mutilation
bling-bling?

I often wonder how much of this is paid for with welfare handouts.
Ridiculous.

The once-sacred temple of the body, heart, mind and soul has now
become the repository of poisons and follow-the-leader fashion missteps.

By themselves, these styles basically would be harmless. The big
picture, though, shows this wastefulness to be another manifestation
of the abandonment of discipline in parenting and in our schools.

With child obesity rates and meth use at national health emergency
levels, I am convinced that this abandonment of discipline is directly
related to irresponsible behavior in all its forms.

When examined honestly, it is a self-imposed death march the likes of
which America has never seen before.

While hero warriors of the U.S. military are putting their lives on
the line every day during this tragic war on terror, we Americans
should have an even more powerful sense of civic duty to be the best
that we can be, now more than ever.

A fat, unhealthy, undisciplined, disprioritized America is a weaker
America.

If our fighting men and women are willing to die for freedom, the
least we should do is make intelligent, positive choices to show
respect and appreciation for the freedom provided to do so.

Our bodies are sacred temples. America is a sacred temple. It is time
to treat them as such.

Ted Nugent is a Waco-based musician and television show host.