April 15, 2013
An Open Letter to my Children
Many concerns for our country have
surfaced over the past several years. This in turn fuels my concern
for my children who will be directly affected, and are all ready
being affected.
It's my intent to help fuel desire to
find truth, even if it's not what you want to read or hear. It's my
desire and hope that you be well informed with truth and nothing but
the truth that I write this.
In my many years of experience with the
internet – basically since its public inception – I have found I
can find any truth I want to find. That is to say: Anything I believe
to be the truth should I do a search on the internet the chances are
I will find it. It's like a little prize that supports what I “know”
versus my being wrong. Nobody likes being wrong and the more my being
right is stoked the more likely I will be to pass on the information
regardless of its correctness.
I have learned over the past years I
have to take what I read on the internet with a grain of salt. I have
learned not to take someone's word as fact; learned that despite
one's well intentions that they may be misguided therefore incorrect.
I have learned that to glean a more accurate truth I must change my
search terms – sometimes to quite the opposite of whatever it is I
want to know.
It is the same with TV news and printed
newspapers. So called information is bandied about as accurate when
in fact it is nothing more than iterations of special interest
groups' talking heads – and worst – our government no matter if
the government is conservative or liberal.
So this brings me to the word “trust”.
In my youth I trusted the news media. I trusted they would give me
all the information as well as factual information. It
was the same with books I read. I absorbed the information without
question. I felt well-informed about subjects of which I cared.
Let me give you one example that has
stuck with me over the years. It was during Bill Clinton's
presidency. I voted for him his first term in office. I believed him,
was certain he would not lie because who would have the audacity to
lie to millions of people with the chance of getting caught in
telling a non-truth? I felt this about all of our important delegates
despite Nixon's Watergate coverup.
I remember watching President Clinton's
face close up on camera and saying without so much as a twitch, “I
did not have sex with that woman.” Now – of course – we know
differently but back then I believed him, and why wouldn't I? I
didn't question but merely accepted because I trusted him.
That, my darlings, was the beginning my
questioning information of concern or importance I obtain or am fed
via any venue in regards to and such as social, civil, economic,
environmental, and political.
We all know 1+1=2 but suddenly one day
– for example – a renown university tells us that is incorrect.
We have been wrong all along; that actually 1+1=3. This is an
extremely simplified example but one I think illustrates what it is
I'm working to convey to you. So here we are. A well known and
respected university tells us we've been wrong for all these many
years. As a human being, I have a choice. I can choose to believe or
I can question the validity.
To not question, to not mull around the
information, to not ponder to find questions, to not wonder what
effect the information has on you, your family, friends, children,
and all citizens as a whole (if it so affects them) is to toss away
an opportunity to not only advance yourself but others around you, to
perhaps make the world a bit better for (future) others who follow
you, to leave behind a footprint of truth however big or small it is.
To not ask yourself: “How will this
affect current and future generations? How does this benefit (or not)
me, my family and friends, my town, country, city, state and all of
the United States now and in the future?” To blindly follow and not
ask yourself those questions is a commonality, a trait I hope to
never, ever find in myself.
So, truth. It is easily hidden in
agendas. Stalin, Marx, Hitler, Nixon and many more past, present and
future have and will find a way to make their truth your truth. Ask
yourself how it can be your truth when - really – all you're doing
is trusting one of many other sources where perhaps the real answer
lies. It is up to you and you alone to find the answer. Does 1+1=2 or
=3?
