If you could go to Loch Ness tomorrow and prove or disprove conclusively the existence of the monster, would you? Should you? When all the questions are answered, when all the superstitions are stilled, when science has unraveled all the mysteries, what will we do? Would you want to live in such a time? Would we be able to live then?

This is the opening series from a George R. R. Martin story. Now I have issues with Martin and his apparent inability to finish the Song of Fire and Ice series.(hint, hint George. Some of your fans are growing impatient and frustrated.) That aside, it made me think about the idea of wonder. The idea of curiosity. Science, in and of itself, is wonderful and, more often than not, creates more questions than it answers. I do not see this as a bad thing. I see the unknown and wonder as positive things. Without the awe that drives us to question, "What if?" or "I wonder...." we wouldn't have a tenth of the scientific discovery we've had today. Where did we lose this ability to question, to dream.

If you look at modern education we are spoon-fed from cradle to grave exactly what the 'experts' want us to know. When was the last time a teacher actively encouraged a student to think for themselves? I had one teacher in high school that genuinely encouraged this kind of independent thought. Most didn't, or couldn't, be bothered to take the time to deal with logical analysis. If it wasn't in the book they weren't interested. This is the kind of educational system we've created for the children of this country. We're creating drones. It's no wonder that so many technical and scientific jobs are leaving the country. Today's children come out of high school ill-equipped to make it through college and even more poorly equipped to do any job that involves anything more complicated than pushing a button or inserting tab A into slot B.

And now our government once again wants to show the public that they are "doing something" to fix the 'crisis' we're in right now. The reason that they're going to get away with it is because the few people that actually take the time to stop and think about what's happening and ask the right questions are a tiny minority. Most people hear the politicians hot air on TV and think they're going to get money for free. They don't pay attention to the fantastic job public education is doing now. They are incapable of thinking this through to realize that no money is free. TANSTAAFL people. If you don't know what that stands for shame on you. Now go look it up.

We have to get back to being a skeptical society. We have to question the experts and the authorities. We have to be able to look at the world around us and see when the reality doesn't match the garbage they're trying to force feed us. If we can't get back to that kind of independent, rational thought then we are doomed to failure. We'll be no different than the brainwashed hordes were in the USSR or are now in North Korea. It's not too late.....not yet anyway. I can easily envision a point within the next decade where this downhill slide is irreversible but we're not there yet.


On a completely personal note, a friend of mine passed away here recently. He was a Marine aviator in Vietnam. He was an attorney and, eventually, a judge here in Kansas. He was the epitome of a good man. Even after losing most of his leg to cancer I never once heard this man complain about anything or say an unkind word about anyone, even when he was well within his rights to do so. The Marines guarding the Pearly Gates have added another to their order. You will be missed my friend. You are missed.

Captain Max Opperman
USMC
Semper Fidelis

Nom per Deus mi amici