Deemed Dangerous

It is getting pretty bad when postage stamps can be deemed a threat. Yes, I said postage stamps. An entire series of United States Postal Service stamps created in honor of First Lady Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” campaign and aimed at getting children to be more active are being destroyed because three of the activities depicted on the stamp series have been deemed dangerous by the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports, and Nutrition. And just what were these dangerous activities? Well, the swimming stamp depicts a child doing a cannonball, one has a child skateboarding without knee pads, and one depicts a child doing a headstand without a helmet. First off, how many children actually will see these stamps. We as a nation are worried that our children are turning into immobile lumps and yet we have become so paranoid that we are basically bubble wrapping them for even the simplest of activities. I personally think the “Just Move” stamp series is cute and could, if actually seen by children, prompt them not only to participate in the represented activities, but perhaps become interested in stamp collecting as well. That’s a nice safe activity, if you don’t take into account the possibility of sticky fingers.