Fear

There seems to be a lot of fear tactics being used these days to get you to buy one item or another and even to vote for one person or another.  The TV ads will warn you to watch out for H1N1 or the latest farm animal flu, be it bird, chicken or the infamous rhino.  These are scary things or are they?  The flu has always been around and probably always will be.  Wash your hands and try to avoid it.  If you get it, take care of yourself and get healthy.  Speaking of diseases the same goes for politicians.  The Republicans have become infamous for this tactic of scaring us.  The Republicans will tell you not to vote for the Democrat because of what harm will befall this great country of ours.  Before President Obama was elected, the Republicans told us to "Watch out because other nations will test him."  Test him how I thought to myself. Nothing has changed it's just one person.  A person with less and less power in this country as time goes on.  You can test the office of the Presidency but I would not recommend testing the resolve of the American people.  I wish that for just once the Republicans would come out and tell me what good they will do for the country and why I should vote FOR them rather than try to scare me into not voting for the Democrat.  This comes from a lifelong Republican, me.  Although, after the last few Republican Presidents, I would officially classify myself as a independent these days.

I don't have any fears.  Oh sure you could dig up some bone chilling event about my health or a loved one or some global incident that would find some fear within these bones of mine but I do not sit in fear on a daily basis.  In fact, I believe that without bad things you would never know to appreciate the good things life has to offer.  How could you appreciate the sun shinning everyday if it never were cloudy or rainy?  One would have a tendency to curse the warm glow of the sun after so much time having only sun and nothing else.  Too much of a good thing suddenly makes that thing not so good.  I won't go as far as to say that I embrace the bad but without bad is there good?  How would you know?

It's the same with war.  I think war is one of the dumbest things that mankind does.  I understand that not everyone can always get along but War just seems so outdated to me.  For people of different opinions to actually take up arms against each other and shoot and kill one another just makes me shake my head.  Could you imagine if a higher intelligence being (driving on the freeway these days makes me believe that there must be higher life somewhere) were to visit our planet today?  I wonder what they would think?  They would see all of these puny humans running around shooting each other.  I mean a higher being, go beyond your limits and imagine an entity that was so advanced that to them, we would look like a plastic set of army men on a bed of sand in some kids' sandbox.  What if these beings attacked us?  Would the nations and the people of good old planet Earth group together or would we simply protect our own land and boundaries?   Until then, world peace is just a Dream but I can Imagine, right Mr. Lennon?

I think it is mankinds natural arrogance that holds us back and takes us into war against each other.  For example, we look for life on other planets and we base whether life can exist on those planets by looking for things like oxygen and at the bare minimum we look for water or traces of it.  Why do we believe so strongly that water must exist for life to exist?  We need water and oxygen but how do these scientists state so factually that ALL life needs water.  How can they know that?  In all of the little round planets in all of the galaxies maybe there is a life form that breathes methane and drinks acid.  Perhaps if they were to visit us they would perish because they could only find fresh water and oxygen.  Maybe that is why they are not here - because this planet is not inhabitable for them.  We look at dust planets and imagine how brutal those conditions must be.  Perhaps life on that dust planet looks at this wet, humid planet and imagines the horrific conditions here as rain falls and tornado's twist and hurricanes brew.

Where this is going I am not sure. I got a bit off the topic but that is me and I warned you that these topics would go in many different directions.  Do I believe in little green men? Well, I will say this, that until humankind has explored all of the universe that anything is possible.  The bottom line is that I think it depends on your definition of "life".  I think it is a human trait and possible flaw to project ourselves as the definition of "life".  I believe that there could be life on the Moon or on Mars or any of the other planets but perhaps we cannot recognize it as what we define as life because it is a life of another type.  I do wonder who else thinks like this at 7 am on a Saturday morning.  Hmmm, I may need more coffee.