We're All Doomed

The evidence is indisputable. And as a student of history I experience at times a peculiar sinking feeling that I'd like to describe to you.

Imagine if you will a 2 year old baby girl. Perfect in every way except that she was born totally deaf. She's waddling aimlessly down a railroad track. Behind her a train hurtles down the tracks heading straight for her. Playfully ambling along she's oblivious to the impending danger.

The engineer has spotted her and is riding both the train whistle and brakes with all his might. He, unaware that the little girl is totally deaf, is most perplexed that she doesn't turn around to see the train coming rapidly towards her.

Sparks fly from the tracks as steel wheels grind against steel rails; the engineer is now also yelling to the little girl in hopes that she will turn in time to leap to safety. But she continues doing little girl things by conquering the rail ties one by one. The train is only seconds away from where she's playing.

Now imagine yourself, having been startled by the screeching brakes and the unending scream of the train's whistle, being the only one who can save the little girl from a most disastrous fate.

You're running as fast as you possibly can towards the child. You're frantically waving both arms and screaming beyond the top of your voice in desperation to get her attention! Unable to hear either you or the train, she climbs over another railroad tie and counts it as one more conquest.

You realize that you'll have to run faster than any human ever has to reach the baby in time to sweep her of out harm's way. You also know that you can't run that fast. Nobody could. What do you do?

Mr. Spock, of Star Trek fame, would have already concluded that the only available possibility of saving the child is to get her attention (i.e. get her attention) so that she will see the train and jump to safety; ergo, saving herself.

But how do you get the attention of someone who actually chooses to be deaf?

An old Buddhist proverb states 'A man who cares nothing about what happened before he was born shall forever remain a child.' This is gender neutral of course.

It also meshes perfectly with Malcolm X's statement that 'history is most qualified to reward all research.'

As a student of history I am able to take great pride in the fact that I 'own my own thoughts.' By that I mean I access and accept input in the form of information from all available sources. I then use my own brain and my own thinking ability to sort through this hodgepodge of data to reach logical conclusions on which to base my opinions and beliefs.

Were I to abrogate this critical process to someone or something else, I would be deserving of the inimical results.

To own your own thoughts means to use your brain-computer to analyze the facts of life. To do so you must take into account the short piece of history defining your lifespan and see how it fits into the stream of past history.

Further it means that you will be well enough informed about factual things not to accept something as fact simply because someone or something else told you it was true.

A textbook example of this is how the Catholic Church put Galileo through so much trouble over his then controversial theory of planetary movement. He was correct in his theory that the earth revolved around the sun instead of vice versa but lacked the technology to demonstrate it. The 'church' put an 'X' on him for the remainder of his life.

But my question is why did so-called religious leaders think it their duty to tell people what was scientific or not.

It was because they had the power to do so. Not the expertise or the qualifications; just the power to influence people's beliefs, thereby controlling their thoughts, actions and behavior. And sadly, the people agreed to this because their minds had already been conditioned for such manipulation.

Folks this is what led to the 'Dark Ages' of Europe!

Be like Galileo people. Think for yourselves. And that brings up another issue.

Some people seem to actually be unable to think for themselves. They actually need to be told what to think. And there is no shortage of shysters -- pick a flavor, religious 'leaders', po-lie-ticians, financial advisors (think Bernie Madoff), talk show hosts, phony 'friends', well-meaning friends, parents (too many who are woefully unqualified for the role) -- who stand ready and willing to tell someone else how they should think on any and all issues.

Being a student of history is a bitter-sweet endeavor. While it does allow me to own my own thoughts, it also makes me aware of the ubiquitous nature of humankind.

It leads me to believe that no matter who is in a position of power we will always have corruption (ghosts of Lord Acton) and abuse of that power.

Those in power -- meaning they have access to our money before we even get it -- consistently demonstrate that regardless of so-called race, skin color, religious background, marital status, sexual orientation or any other characteristic, that they will use their privileged positions primarily for self-aggrandizement.

If the Founders were to see what we the people have allowed to take place before our very eyes they would utter a collective 'what the bleep?'

Many have tried to get our attention; Rep. Ron Paul is one on the scene today.

Are you willing to start owning your own thoughts?

Read and think for yourself. Otherwise we're doomed.