Howdy Folks!
The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.
I am a person of faith, and I do not fear tomorrow.
For I have not been given a spirit of fear.
Consider, I had plenty of people telling me my death was imminent if that blood clot moved.
That didn't happen.
I play the odds. I have done that with metal detecting. I go where the odds are stacked in my
favor for finding something worthwhile. I don't hunt where people seldom go, but scour locations
that are frequently populated. The more people, the more often, the more likely that I'll find
stuff they parted with.
Playing the odds, it is far more likely (on an almost quantum level) that none of us will likely
need the precautions that some suggest. We are much more likely to be involved in an auto
accident than civil unrest. We are much more likely to suffer devastating physical issues than
face black helicopters and U.N. Covert Ops squads. The odds are much greater that we might
confront cancer, coronary artery disease, stroke or any of a hundred other catastrophic diseases
well before a pandemic of bird flu.
The business of fear is very big business. There is a ton of money being made on the fear factor.
Coast to Coast AM makes their living selling fear. Major Ed Dames is a frequent guest who is also
known as Dr. Doom, and he constantly makes dire predictions of imminent destruction (which never
seem to happen) and nobody seems to notice when those predictions fail to materialize. Like the
comet Hale-Bopp, for example, that he claimed was carrying a secondary body right behind it.
He claimed that secondary body was loaded with some sort of spheres that would be dispersed
all over the earth to destroy every green growing thing. Anybody still using a lawn mower out there?
Much more concerning are the actual issues looming on the horizon. Colony collapse of honey bees
is highly concerning. No bees, no pollination. No pollination, no crops. That's an issue that needs to
be explored and addressed. But among theories on what is causing colonly collapse is cellular
telephone technology. Anybody willing to give up their cellphone as a precaution?
Speaking of bees, wreckless scientists have blessed us with Africanized bees that have migrated
from South American to our own southern states. While the fear merchants produced lurid movies
of swarms of killer bees taking out entire towns, they're here and have killed a few folks, but no
clouds of bees taking out entire towns so far.
There is a difference between being reasonably prepared for likely trouble, and being unduly
fearful. Being prepared to cope with an intruder in your home is reasonable enough, considering
that home invasion does happen fairly frequently. Being prepared to fight off an invading army is
likely overkill. But given that scenario, ala Red Dawn, your P-229 won't likely have much effect on
an Abrams tank or Bradly Fighting Vehicle. If it is our government to fear, then we got a real problem
because they have exotic weaponry that is still totally outside the thinking of the average American.
So how does one prepare for that?
But I don't fear for the future. I think it will be a wonderful thing to witness as it unfolds.
It is my optimism that chooses to believe the best about tomorrow. New advances in science
and technology are coming down the pike every single day. Just consider your laptop computer,
which only 20 years ago, would have required entire rooms full of electronic gizmos to accomplish
what we not take for granted. The fact that we are able to have this conversation on the internet
is also remarkable, considering the state of communications only 20 years ago.
When I found my first old coin, a Barber dime dated 1895 minted in New Orleans, I started to
think about the person who might have dropped it. He may have been a veteran of the Civil
War. The Custer fight was still fresh in peoples minds, just as 911 is fresh in ours today.
There were no highways spanning this nation. No computers, no televisions, no automobiles,
little electricity, most plumbing was outside the house, no movie theatres, no cellular phones,
no electric grid, no passenger jets crossing the nation in a matter of a few hours, no world wars,
no nuclear threat, and the list goes on and on.
Even in the span of my own lifetime, I have been witness to an almost miraculous transformation.
I was able to watch, on television from space, men walking on the moon! I was blessed to see
the telephone transform from a bulky rotary phone on a permanent cord attached to the wall
to the gizmo I carry in my pocket allowing me to communicate from anywhere, anytime and
also transmit text messages and enjoy the internet. Quantum stuff. Everywhere I look, I see
advancements that would have stunned my grandparents. I can now carry movies around in
my pocket. I have a device that will hold hundreds upon hundreds of best selling books that
I can take with me anywhere I go and download new books at my whim, from anywhere in
the world. In my hands, I have access to more books than any of our local libraries.
I remember, as a small boy, the wonder of television. Our first set was a thing that stood about
4 feet high, several feet wide and deep, and held a screen about the size of a dinner plate. Of
course it was black and white. Now I have a 55 inch screen that is fed signals from space in
high definition.
The whole point is I see a bright and noble future. Perhaps I am somewhat Pollyanna about
tomorrow, but I believe it will be an amazing place to live and work.
But then again, I have this whole faith thing going on.
And I haven't been given the spirit of fear.
Blessings,
M-Taliesin
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