WE HAVE LIVED LONG enough to know that times were never like they are now.

Our times have been overtaken by mass hysteria, funneled into political movements that defy reason.

If what we sense is, in fact, mass hysteria — a panic period which will pass in time — then it seems reasonable to suspect that women are behind it _{(said with a smile).}

THERE IS STILL TIME to take advantage of the limitation in human understanding.

For now, a truer statement cannot be made that life exists everywhere we look on earth — but nowhere else in the entire universe.

This makes human life supreme..!

Act on it.

THERE IS YOU, and me, and us.

And while life may be normal between you and me, it is falling apart for us — us being the larger community.

We see it in the news reports on political conflicts, and in nearby streets that are festering with vagrants.

What’s happened..? What changed things, and how can the apparent decline be reversed..?

Two things are missing, that I can tell.

• Trust
• Forgiveness

A forgiving people would not argue for slavery reparations, for example, because lessons were learned and the past has been forgiven.

As a step in the right direction, may we consider abolishment of the Congressional Black Caucus — as an act of trust and forgiveness..?

POLITICAL CORRECTNESS IS ONE THING. Political Correctors, quite another.

Why risk embarrassment when there is a crowd to hide behind..? If the world should be seen in only a certain way, then why talk about it and add confusion..?

Yes, but many times, things will appear differently from a different perspective — as with “ambiguous images.”

If sensibilities could be offended by pointing this out, the sensibilities themselves are senseless, it would seem.

WHEN WE LOOK the world in the face…

we see it is mostly makeup.

OUT AT THE BARN, reaching for a cold beer, I noticed a deceased fly stiffened out inside of the refrigerator, and removed him without delay.

Later, while becoming one with the beer, I pondered how that poor fly must have dealt with his moment of doom. He must have been frightened for quite some time.

I went back to look and found evidence of his last expressions left in a note:

“I never thought it would end this way…”

THE SUNLIGHT GLISTENED off dozens of rope webs which descended from branches, above. They crisscrossed in the breeze, making it inevitable that some would eventually blow into my face and hair, as I walked.

At about that time, tiny fruit fly-like bugs began landing on my skin.

Hm…

Which came first — the fly, or the web..?

What is this dirt that covers my hands when I am working in the garden..?

Oh, dirt, wonderful are ye: the decaying remains of all that has blossomed and died over countless generations throughout the depths of time, with spirits rising and being crushed, again and again, apparently at rest, but unsettled, waiting, wanting.

What grows from dirt depends on the past, and probability, and on want, too. Past, Probability, and Want — the holy trinity. But what is “want”..? Is it a particle, or a force field..? Is it good, or evil..?

How many pounds of dirt will yield an ounce of “want”..?

Fame and fortune will befall the industrious soul who discovers the answer, to be sure.

WHEN WE ACCEPT that something was done by design, we can then begin to discern aspects about the designer.

Take a car bomb, for example, designed to detonate as the trunk lid is shut. A car left in someone’s driveway with its trunk lid open would be noticed by anyone, but not everyone would similarly be drawn to close it. The bomb, therefore, targets some more than others.

If a pattern of such bombings were to actually occur, not just some but all would soon be avoiding cars with open trunks; while also seeking to learn the identity and motivations of the designer.

. . .

If we can discern anything of the designer of life, it might be that our personal wants really don’t matter, in the short run, so long as we remain alive to struggle for as long as we can, until overtaken by a fair (we hope) death. What one doesn’t know may hurt one, but it won’t matter a tad from a design perspective because others in this and subsequent generations will be available to fill, to overflowing, whatever vacancies are opened.

The grand abundance of life on earth contrasts sharply with the total absence of life found anywhere outside of earth; as if we were intended to be isolated.

Were we to find other cultures in distant lands, and open channels of dialog and commerce with them, it would be like a Mediterranean in the sky, with knowledge and skills flourishing as they were exchanged back and forth. The expansion of understanding would be far too much to be safely allowed, one can be sure; so we are kept in isolation for everyone’s best interests, it seems.

Just a thought