Paul Mero

As fate would have it, today’s Mero Moment falls right in between the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall and Veterans Day.

Over the weekend I took my dad to an inspiring Veterans Day celebration. It was a musical mixed with old film footage from World War II. As I sat there with dad it dawned on me that, when I turned 19 years old, I was in Nashville, Tennessee on my way to school in Dallas, Texas. My dad turned 19 at Iwo Jima.

At 19 years old, dad had already been overseas for a year. He celebrated his 18th birthday in San Diego at boot camp. He went from there to the Philippines where, after several months, he contracted malaria and was sent to Honolulu to recover. When he felt better he was back with his naval group in the deep Pacific. He rejoined his group at night and didn’t know where he was. At morning, with the break of dawn, he found himself at Iwo Jima. Eight hundred ships and boats were poised for attack. Dad drove an LCM – those landing crafts that you see in newsreels where the gate comes down and the Marines hop off for battle. read more

This week I want to talk about Utah’s struggling state budget. Cache Valley’s own State Senator, Lyle Hillyard, is one of the most knowledgeable people about the state budget. He knows it backwards and forwards. He knows it inside and out. When my colleagues at Sutherland want to know how the budget works, they call Senator Hillyard.

My guess is that our current budget crunch isn’t the first time Senator Hillyard has had his mettle tested in about 40 years of service as a state legislator. But I’m sure he’d tell you that no down-turn in the economy is easy on the budget-making process. read more

In 2008, the Utah State Legislature passed SB81 in an attempt to curb the growth of illegal immigration in the state. Many of us who opposed SB 81 warned that there would be many unintended consequences and that we really wouldn’t discover many of these until it became law – which it did last July 1st.

I received a call from a friend last week who helps Hispanics start businesses in Utah. She told me that several of the folks she’s helped recently were being denied a license to pay sales taxes because they were undocumented and did not have a valid Social Security number. In the past, she told me, no one asked for a Social Security number for someone to start a business. She wondered if I’d look into it. read more

This week I want to talk about bullies. Evidently, bullies are becoming a big problem. There’s now talk of school board rules and legislation that would prohibit bullying.

Most people who know me even casually probably know that I hate bullies. I don’t know what it is, but if I have a hot button, that’s it. And, for me anyway, bullying takes many forms.

Sally and I were out to dinner the other night with some friends and we were seated near the door so we could see most of the people waiting to be seated. There was this one group of people – maybe three families, all looked related somehow – and they had little toddlers who couldn’t sit still. read more

This week I want to discuss the uncomfortable, but seemingly growing, problem of adults in positions of trust who abuse that trust in their relationships with children. Evermore stories are appearing about public school teachers, many women, who enter into intimate relationships with their students. The latest story from Davis County involved a young boy who was actually involved with two public school teachers.

Is there a growing problem here? Are public school teachers increasingly twisted in their desire to prey upon their students? read more

I am so tired of hearing liberals talk about health care as if it’s some alien life form. Health care is pretty simple: take care of yourself, don’t do anything too reckless, don’t over-indulge yourself (and don’t indulge at all in some things), exercise, eat right, get enough sleep, get married, have kids, and stay married. Do all of those things and you’re going to stay pretty healthy.

Notice that good health has very little to do with health insurance. It has nearly everything to do with living right. read more

The Canadian Hockey League is, arguably, the best junior hockey league in the world. Many of its stars go on to become professional hockey players. But what makes them so successful? As author Malcolm Gladwell writes, “You can’t buy your way into [the league.] It doesn’t matter who your father or mother is…nor does it matter if you live in the most remote corner of the most northerly province of Canada. If you have the ability, the vast network of hockey scouts and talent spotters will find you, and if you’re willing to work to develop that ability, the system will reward you.” read more

This week I want to talk about multi-level marketing.  When I was a younger man, and living back in the Washington, D.C. area, a friend of mine approached me about becoming involved in a company called Shakley.  It sold a product line of vitamins and cleaners and cosmetics that used natural ingredients.  My wife, Sally, and I looked over the products, used them for a while, and decided to get involved.  As young as we were, we had entrepreneurial visions of owning our own business and becoming filthy rich. read more

As fate would have it, I have known Joe Cannon for 30 years. Joe is the editor of the Deseret News. I met him just shortly after I joined the LDS Church in the Washington, D.C. area but before my wife, Sally, joined. He helped to teach her the Good Word every Wednesday night at 7:30 for nearly a year. In other words, he’s a good friend and I admire him greatly.

Just before Sally and I moved from DC to Provo to attend BYU, Joe pulled me aside and, in all seriousness, told me, “No matter what you see or hear out there in Utah, the Church is still true.” read more