I have a problem overthinking everything that leaves me with the words. “I just don’t get it,” stuck in my head.

Let’s start with former heavyweight boxing champion, Mike Tyson. Years ago he was convicted of raping a beauty pageant contestant. Then he viciously assaulted his Robin Givens, his wife at the timeLater, he was a guest on “The View,” a popular daytime women’s talk show where he blamed his violent behavior against women on his upbringing and influences from evil people.Now I’m the type of guy who forgives almost anyone for a transgression, but I hold no compassion for Tyson. I also wonder why a women’s talk show would even consider inviting someone who had a history of assaulting their kind.I just don’t get it.Rambling on to the next topic, I have a problem with presidential debates. To be honest, I don’t want anyone in the White House who spends more time insulting his or her opponents than presenting positions on relevant topics. Why not make a law banning negative campaigning? Not only are their character attacks bad examples for our children, we choose to vote not for the best candidate, but against the worst. People I know talk about having to choose from the egomaniac, the evil woman and the socialist, who they think is going to give free services to those who are undeserving, and the rest of us will pay the bill.Speaking of socialism, which seems to be a dirty political word nowadays, Franklin D. Roosevelt, one of our most revered presidents, gave us the Social Security system within his New Deal that has helped millions of Americans living in retirement. Perhaps everyone who collects Social Security and opposes socialism should mail their checks back to the government.I just don’t get it.With the risk of offending someone, which is certainly not my intention, I wonder why the most often prescribed treatment for cancer patients is chemotherapy. I know people who have had their cancer cured by this procedure, yet why after all the years of research and money spent on searching for cures, do we still utilize a practice that began in the 1940s?Pharmaceutical companies boast of high survival rates from chemotherapy treatments, but other medical websites claim these numbers are enormously skewed.There is a growing movement in holistic health circles that strengthening the immune system through nutrition is significant to cancer prevention. I’d rather we be put more money and effort in to prevention since we have not found a successful cure that doesn’t leave the patient with horrible side effects and no guarantees.We put men on the moon. I can call France from my cellphone. My car talks to me. We can’t cure cancer?I just don’t get it.Here’s one more thing that makes me scratch my head. There is enormous nationwide pressure placed upon schoolteachers to have all their students succeed. Administrators threaten their staffs with salary freezes, poor performance evaluations, and even termination when students fail state and common core tests.I don’t hear about doctors getting salary freezes when their patients die. Lawyers are not punished when they lose their clients’ cases. Policemen are not blamed when crime rates do not fall. When someone dies in a house fire, it’s the fault of the fire department, right?If the No Child Left Behind Act had worked, every child would have succeeded. Really now. When everyone wins, everyone loses. Success holds no value. Put blame where it belongs. Kids succeed. Kids fail.I once had a teacher who told us on the first day of school that all of her students started off with a perfect score of 100 percent in her class just for being there.Years later, I had a college professor tell us we began his class with a 60 percent average just for being there.You tell me which students were more motivated to work hard.Speaking of working hard, the number one reason people quit a job today is because they don’t like their boss telling them what to do.Go ahead. You can say aloud with me the five words that are the title of this column.Rich Strack can be reached at

katehep11@gmail.com.