MONEY

MONEY - MONEY - MONEY - MONEY - MONEY - MONEY - MONEY
The word ‘money’ is a noun that means something customarily and legally used as a medium of exchange, a measure of value, or a means of payment (as pieces of stamped metal or printed paper) . Money is the thing that allows us to possess all of the other things we would like to have. And so we sing the praises of our god MONEY.
Money, get away. Get a good job with good pay and you’re okay.
Money, it’s a gas. Grab that cash with both hands and make a stash.
New car, caviar, four star daydream - think I’ll buy me a football team.

Money, get back. I’m all right Jack keep your hands off of my stack.
Money, it’s a hit. Don’t give me that do goody good bullshit.
I’m in the high-fidelity first class traveling set - and I think I need a Lear jet.

Money, it’s a crime. Share it fairly but don’t take a slice of my pie.
Money, so they say - is the root of all evil today.
But if you ask for a raise its no surprise that they’re - giving none away.
Lyrics from Pink Floyd’s Dark Side Of The Moon - Money

Money - it is the thing that runs our human society. But what do we really know about money? Where does it all come from? The following article from the June 2003 Idaho Observer may help us understand what it all really means. Posted here without permission - so read & learn.
Money? It's not what you think it is.
There is nothing so revered, yet so misunderstood as the subject of money. Most adults spend half their waking hours laboring to acquire it. Many people measure a person's standing in society by how much ”money” they have. And nearly everything in our modern world is measured by its monetary value.
But how many people have a clue what money is? Where it comes from? What gives it value? The history of money? And what value would our modern money have if everyone knew what it really was?
Pull out a dollar bill, look at it, and ask yourself, How did this get here? What gives it value? Do you know what makes money, “money”?
by Hari Heath
In the Beginning
Before money, there was barter. One thing traded for another thing. This only works if both traders want the other's thing. Otherwise, no trade. By having a commonly accepted third medium of exchange, expanded commerce became possible.
Coins, drilled shells, beads and animal skins were among the early forms of money. In the early forms of money, value came from the rarity of the material or the labor to produce it.
So how did that paper “dollar” in your hand become money? An excellent answer is found in G. Edward Griffin's 600+ page book, “The Creature from Jekyll Island.” This highly illuminating and educational study on money covers the history of money, banking, wars and the political shenanigans behind the money powers. But we don't have 600 pages here to answer every detail of that question.
The short history is that coins made of precious metals became the favored medium of exchange since at least the Roman times. The word money comes from the word “Moneta,” an epithet for the Roman goddess Juno. A temple to this goddess, who was considered the guardian of the Roman treasury, was converted into a mint, according to James Ewart in his book, Money -- Ye shall have honest weights and measures. The Romans began to call this temple “The Moneta” and later used the name for other places where coins were made. Moneta evolved over the years to an abbreviated “mone” or “monet.” The older English spelling of “monie” eventually became “money.”
From Roman times through Medieval Europe there was a proliferation of coinage and various ways to debauch the coins by lightening their weight, plating or alloying with less valuable metals. But the ultimate debauchery came from the Goldsmiths in the 1200s who discovered the dirty scheme of fractional reserve holdings. The Goldsmiths issued paper receipts for gold they held in storage for their customers. The receipts came to be used “as” money since they could be returned to the Goldsmith for the gold held in storage.
The Goldsmiths discovered that, since not everyone wanted their gold at once, they could issue more receipts than they had gold and create wealth for themselves “out of thin air,” or more accurately, paper and ink. This little experiment has been tried over and over again ever since. It forms the basis for the banking industry and has repeatedly led to the same inescapable result -- financial collapse caused by unfettered greed.
What is Money?
Money in the pure sense of the word, can only mean coins, not paper currency. Congress was only given the power in the Constitution to “coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin.” The Constitution does not authorize Congress to issue currency or create a central bank. Constitutionally, only coins can be money.
Ewart makes another clear distinction. Money is not something to be used “as” a medium of exchange, money “is” a medium of exchange. Money doesn't represent value, like a note, it “is” something with intrinsic value like a coin.
But all of these otherwise correct definitions do not correlate with our modern misguided notions of “money.” Do you have coins in your bank account? When you write a check to someone can they cash it for the face value in gold or silver coins? When you swipe your credit or debit card at the gas pumps does a coin fall out of the card and into the pumps to pay for your fuel? Of course not; you don't really use “money.”
In modern reality, since we have no “money,” what we use “as” money, has become “money.” Being an advocate of constitutional reality, I am often perplexed when explaining real money to my fellow citizens who have lost all sense of monetary reality. How can I explain the value of precious metal coin money that “is” a medium of exchange, to members of the current herd who have been programmed to believe Federal Reserve Notes, credit cards and bank accounts are money or have money in them?
The Four Kinds of Money
Griffin provides the answer in the Creature From Jekyll Island. He offers a working definition that “Money is anything which is accepted as a medium of exchange and it may be classified into the following forms:
1. Commodity money;
2. Receipt money;
3. Fractional money;
4. Fiat money.”
Ever since the era of the goldsmiths, if monetary systems are allowed to run the full course steered by human greed, they eventually end up somewhere in the latter two forms before they collapse. Griffin's book provides example after example throughout history of the short lived and devastating effects of paper currencies.
That “dollar” you are holding in your hand has been in the “fiat money” phase for 70 years -- one of the longest running fiat schemes the political and monetary scientists have yet devised. To understand the nature of the fiat scheme we must first visit the other three forms of money and see how one begets the next.
Commodity Money
Commodity money is just that. Some thing “is” the money. Gold, silver or copper coins; deer skins; trade beads; whiskey, sugar or salt. When the American colonies became productive they were short on money but long on tobacco. Bales of tobacco were widely accepted in colonial ports as a commodity money to purchase the goods imported from Europe. On the return trip, merchants accepted tobacco as money for more goods purchased for shipment to the New World.
Gold has been a preferred commodity money for thousands of years. It is relatively rare, doesn't spoil or corrode and, unlike jewels, it is infinitely divisible into a consistent quality and quantity of coinage.
Griffin points out another often overlooked advantage to the use of a commodity money. It automatically creates stability in an economy through the natural forces of a free market. The supply of the commodity money will naturally regulate its value relative to the products and services available in a given society. He presents numerous examples of economies that were essentially self-healing after their fractional or fiat monies collapsed and they returned to whatever commodity money they had on hand.
Griffin also debunks the myth that there isn't enough gold to go around if we had to go back to a gold monetary unit. He details how gold or another commodity is only a measure of value. The amount of gold available and the items available in commerce would not change -- only the measurement we use between them -- money.
He offers a well-thought out 16 point plan to replace the Federal Reserve System with silver and gold based commodity money and receipt money. His calculations, based on September 1993 data, include the quantity of gold and silver held by the government; their historical, relative and current (1993) values; the quantity of the Federal Reserve Note (FRN) “dollars” or M-1 money supply; and the bottom line if the FRN “dollars” were redeemed by silver dollars. The bottom line is that FRNs would be valued at .0047 silver dollars or a silver dollar would be worth 213 FRNs after redemption.
Receipt Money
Receipt money is literally a receipt for commodity money. It is used “as” money. If it remains 100 percent backed by the commodity it does no harm. It's lighter and can be very valuable if, for example, the receipt entitles the holder to a large stack of precious coins.
Typically, receipt money offers some terms of redemption such as “payable to bearer on demand.” American Liberty Currency from NORFED (www.norfed.org) is a modern example of receipt money. A “$10” Liberty Currency Warehouse Receipt is redeemable on demand for a one-ounce silver coin.
The only problem with receipt money is when by some fraud, legal or otherwise, it is turned into fractional money. The Goldsmiths pioneered that concept which was one of the steps along the way to make that “dollar” in your hand what it is today.
Fractional Money
Fractional money is what happens when more receipt money is circulated than there is commodity money to redeem it with. Only a fraction of the substance is there to back the promise to pay. Fractional money is the direct result of human greed -- the desire to get something for nothing.
The Creature From Jekyll Island provides many examples of receipt money gone bad. With various motives from simple greed to the funding of wars, bankers and governments have been fractionalizing receipt money for the last 800 years.
What happens when banks or governments get caught with their pants down, and the commodity money demanded doesn't match the fractional money in circulation? There are three basic options: Total collapse of the economic system involved; partial collapse of the monetary unit where it is devalued to match the commodity money; or conversion to fiat money.
Fiat Money
Fiat money is often defined as paper currency not backed by gold or silver. It is sometimes “enforced” by “legal tender” laws which compel people to accept it even though it has no real value. “Fiat” is Latin for “let it be done,” as in an arbitrary or authoritative order or decision.
Fiat money is what we have “let be done” to our economy, which constitutionally is required to be a commodity money system of coins. There are good reasons why the founders of our nation mandated a coin-based economy.
The fiat paper fiasco began in the colonies in the 1690s. Griffin states, “Massachusetts was the first to use it as a means to finance its military raids against the French colony in Quebec. The other colonies were quick to follow suit and, within a few years, were engaging in a virtual orgy of printing 'bills of credit.'”
As one colonial legislator explained it, “do you think, gentlemen, that I will consent to load my constituents with taxes when we can send to our printer and get a whole wagon load of money, one quire of which will pay for the whole?”
But there is a hidden tax called inflation associated with the issuance of fiat money.
Inflation is the natural result whenever more currency is added to a given economy. The value of the existing currency is deflated relative to the amount of new currency issued and circulated. By the late 1750s Connecticut had price inflated by 800 percent, the Carolinas had inflated 900 percent, Massachusetts 1,000 percent and Rhode Island 2,300 percent. Fiat inflation was so out of hand the British Parliament stepped in and banned the production of fiat money. Griffin described the result:
“What followed was unforeseen by the promoters of fiat money. Amid great gloom about 'insufficient money,' a miracle boom of prosperity occurred. The forced use of fiat money had compelled everyone to hoard their real money and use the worthless paper instead. Now that the paper was in disgrace, the colonists began to use their English, French and Dutch gold coins again, prices rapidly adjusted to reality, and commerce returned to a solid footing. It remained so even during the economic strain of the Seven-Years War (1756-1763) and during the period immediately prior to the Revolution. Here was a perfect example of how an economic system in distress can recover if government does not interfere with the healing process.”
But that was not the end of fiat currency in the colonies. To fund the revolutionary war the printing presses began rolling again. The Creature From Jekyll Island provides the following figures which speak for themselves:
* At the beginning of the war in 1775, the total monetary supply for the federated colonies stood at $12 million.
* In June of that year, the Continental Congress issued another $2 million. Before the notes were printed, another $1 million was authorized.
* By the end of the year, another $3 million.
* $19 million in 1776.
* $13 million in 1777.
* $64 million in 1778.
* $125 million in 1779.
* A total of $227 million in five years on top of a base of $12 million is an increase of about 2,000 percent.
* On top of this “federal” money, the states were doing the same in an approximately equal amount.
* And still more: the Continental Army, unable to get enough money from Congress, issued “certificates” for the purchase of supplies totaling $200 million.
* $650 million created in five years on top of a base of $12 million is an expansion of the money supply of over 5000 percent.
The result? In 1775, the colonial money called the Continental was worth one dollar in gold. In 1778 it was valued at twenty-five cents. By 1779 it was worth less than a penny.
Thomas Jefferson clearly explained the nature of the hidden tax called inflation:
“It will be asked how will the two masses of Continental and of State money have cost the people of the United States seventy-two millions of dollars, when they are to be redeemed now with about six million? I answer that the difference, being sixty-six millions, has been lost on the bills separately by the successive holders of them. Every one, through whose hands a bill passed, lost on that bill what it lost in value during the time it was in his hands. This was a real tax on him; and in this way the people of the United States actually contributed those sixty-six millions of dollars during the war, and by a mode of taxation the most oppressive of all.”
Is there any question in your mind now as to why the founders of this nation only gave Congress the power to “coin money? Oliver Ellsworth, a Constitutional Convention delegate from Connecticut and later Chief Justice of the Supreme Court said, “This is a favorable moment to shut and bar the door against paper money. The mischief of the various experiments which have been made are now fresh in the public mind and have excited the disgust of all the respectable parts of America.”
Not all fiat money follows a progression from commodity money, to receipt money, to fractional money, to fiat money. Many of the colonial currencies began and ended as fiat money. The modern “Euro” is nothing but pure fiat money.
The Fractional Fiat
There is another “fractional” money that has been conjured up by the monetary scientists. It's not really a separate form of money in our working definition of money, but it could be called fractional fiat money. Instead of fractional money where only a fraction of the commodity money is kept on hand, a fractional portion of the fiat money is used by the financial institution as a basis to make loans. It is more commonly referred to as fractional reserves. The “reserve” is kept on hand just like the goldsmith's fractional gold to pay out to the unsuspecting customers and keep them unsuspecting.
The fractional reserve rate is carefully calculated by the monetary scientists at the Fed to keep our fiat world rolling along. Fractional fiat money is part of the grand scheme to create money out of thin paper and ink. We'll cover that further, as we unravel the magic illusion of that “dollar” in your hand.
The trail of economic treason
So how did that “dollar” bill you're holding become money? The first thing to understand is that the Federal Reserve Bank or Fed, is not part of the federal government. Most Americans fail to comprehend this fact.
Griffin summarizes the real purposes of the Fed since its conception: “stop the growing competition from the nation's newer banks; obtain a franchise to create money out of nothing for the purpose of lending; get control of the reserves of all banks so that the more reckless ones would not be exposed to currency drains and bank runs; Get the taxpayer to pick up the cartel's inevitable losses; and convince Congress that the purpose was to protect the public.”
Conceived at a secret meeting of the western world's financial elite on Jekyll Island, Georgia, in 1910, the Federal Reserve Bank became the fourth and current experiment in American central banking. The history of that experiment, and the wars, chaos and mayhem caused by it are already the subject of numerous books. We can't begin to touch on its history in this article so we'll stick to a short timeline of the Fed's transition through the four forms of money and how the Fed's mechanisms manipulate our fiat world.
In 1913, the Fed was created by the Federal Reserve Act. Congress also gave away many of our Treasury buildings to the Fed and the Fed assumed control of our nation's gold stores. In the true spirit of European bankers (who held the strings behind the scenes), the Fed began the looting of America.
Federal Reserve Notes, which apparently began as receipt money, “payable to bearer on demand,” no doubt were soon converted to fractional money. But many more FRNs were issued than they had coin money to back them. Congressman Louis McFadden made some inquiries and reported to Congress about the Creature called the Federal Reserve. He found that in 1928 alone the Fed had made loans of gold-backed “dollars” to its member banks in an amount that was six times the world's known gold supply. Simultaneously, As Congressman McFadden pointed out, much of our nation's gold supply was being shipped overseas in trade for German notes and other paper “assets.”
Heavily fractionalized, the “roar” of the roaring 20s was fueled by infusions of Fed fractional money. This continued until the Fed tightened the purse strings, contracting the money supply and causing the crash of 1929 and the ensuing depression. By the spring of 1933, enough Americans figured out there wasn't enough gold in the vaults to “pay to bearer on demand,” so they made a run on the banks to get their gold while they could.
To avert a meltdown of the Fed, President Roosevelt declared a banking holiday and closed the banks by Executive Order. Congress soon followed suit and declared that Fed notes were no longer redeemable in gold. Fed fractional money became Fed fiat money with the acts of a compliant and complicit president and Congress. Why would elected politicians who presumably want to get re-elected violate the will of the people and the Constitution, in favor of a private central bank?
The Mandrake Mechanism
It's easy to say fiat money is made out of thin air or paper and ink, but there is more to it than that. If it were that easy, more people besides the Montana Freemen would be doing it. The magic of fiat money is something bankers, presidents and congressmen would do anything for.
Griffin, in The Creature from Jekyll Island, explains this magic and calls it the “Mandrake Mechanism” after the 1940s comic strip character “Mandrake the Magician.” Mandrake's specialty was making things out of nothing and making them disappear back into the same void. First, the principles behind the Mandrake Mechanism:
“In truth, money is not created until the instant it is borrowed, It is the act of borrowing which causes it to spring into existence. And, incidentally, it is the act of paying off the debt that causes it to vanish....In spite of the technical jargon and seemingly complicated procedures, the actual mechanism by which the Federal Reserve creates money is quite simple. They do it exactly the same way the goldsmiths of old did except, of course, the goldsmiths were limited by the need to hold some precious metal in reserve, whereas, the Fed has no such restriction.
“It is difficult for Americans to come to grips with the fact that their total money supply is backed by nothing but debt, and it is even more mind boggling to visualize that, if everyone paid back all that was borrowed, there would be no money left in existence.”
Federal Reserve Governor Marriner Eccles testified before the House Committee on Banking and Currency, September 30, 1941. Congressman Wright Patman asked Eccles how the fed got the money to purchase two billion dollars worth of government bonds in 1933. Eccles answered, “We created it.” Patman asked, “Out of what?” Eccles replied, “Out of the right to issue credit money.” Patman queried, “And there is nothing behind it, is there, except our government's credit?” Eccles responded, “That is what our money system is. If there were no debts in our money system, there wouldn't be any money.”
Griffin explains the immorality of the Mandrake Mechanism:“When banks place credits into your account, they are merely pretending to lend you money. In reality, they have nothing to lend. Even the money that non-indebted depositors have placed with them was originally created out of nothing in response to someone else's loan. So what entitles the banks to collect rent on nothing? It is immaterial that men everywhere are forced by law to accept these nothing certificates in exchange for real goods and services. We are talking here not about what is legal, but what is moral.”
He continues, “And what did the banks do to earn this perpetually flowing river of wealth? Did they lend out their own capital through the investment of stockholders? Did they lend out the hard-earned savings of their depositors? No. Neither of these were their major source of income. They simply waved their magic wand called fiat money.
“...The bottom line is that Congress and the banking cartel have entered into a partnership in which the cartel has the privilege of collecting interest on money which it creates out of nothing, a perpetual override on every American dollar that exists in the world. Congress, on the other hand, has access to unlimited funding without having to tell the voters their taxes are being raised through the process of inflation. If you understand this paragraph, you understand the Federal Reserve System.”
So what actually happens to operate the Mandrake Mechanism? First, the government adds ink to a piece of paper called a Treasury Bond or note, which is a promise to pay a certain sum with interest at a certain date. The bond is then given to the Fed where it is classified as a securities “asset.” It is considered an asset because it is assumed the government will pay it back with money from future taxation. This “asset” can be used to offset a “liability, ” so the Fed creates a liability by adding ink to another piece of paper called a Federal Reserve Check, which it exchanges with the government in exchange for the “asset.”
At this point Griffin states, “There is no money in any account to cover this check. Anyone else doing this would be sent to prison. It is legal for the Fed, however, because Congress wants the money, and this is the easiest way to get it.This way, the process is mysteriously wrapped up in the banking system. The end result, however, is the same as turning on government printing presses and simply manufacturing fiat money to pay government expenses. Yet, in accounting terms, the books are said to be 'balanced' because the 'liability' of the check is 'offset' by the 'asset' of the bond.”
The Fed check is then endorsed and “deposited” in a Federal Reserve bank where it becomes a government deposit. It can then be used to pay government expenses by issuing government checks. This begins the first wave of the creation of fiat money. The government checks are either deposited or cashed, adding to the M-1 money supply as an account balance or circulating currency. The deposited government checks become commercial bank deposits, which Griffin describes:
“Commercial bank deposits immediately take on a split personality. On the one hand, they are liabilities to the bank because they are owed back to the depositors. But, as long as they remain in the bank, they are considered as assets because they are on hand. Once again, the books are balanced: the assets offset the liabilities. But the process does not stop there. Through the magic of fractional-reserve banking, the deposits are made to serve an additional and more lucrative purpose. To accomplish this, the on-hand deposits now become reclassified in the books and are called bank reserves.
“Reserves for what? Are these for paying off depositors should they want to close out their accounts? No. That's the lowly function they served when they were classified as mere assets. Now that they have been given the name of 'reserves,' they become the magic wand to materialize even larger amounts of fiat money. This is where the real action is: at the level of the commercial banks.
“Here's how it works. The banks are permitted by the Fed to hold as little as 10% of their deposits in 'reserve.' That means, if they receive deposits of $1 million from the first wave of fiat money created by the Fed, they have $900,000 more than they are required to keep on hand. In bankers' language, that $900,000 is called excess reserves. Now that they have been transmuted into an excess, they are considered available for lending. And so in due course these excess reserves are converted into bank loans.
“But how can this money be loaned out when it is owned by the original depositors who are still free to write checks and spend it anytime they wish? Isn't that a double claim against the same money? The answer is that, when the new loans are made, they are not made with the same money at all. They are made with brand new money created out of thin air for that purpose. The nation's money supply simply increases by ninety per cent of the bank's deposits. Furthermore, this new money is far more interesting to the banks than the old. The old money, which they received from depositors, requires them to pay out interest or perform services for the privilege of using it. But, with the new money, the banks collect interest, instead, which is not too bad considering it cost them nothing to make.
“Nor is that the end of the process. When this second wave of fiat money moves into the economy, it comes right back into the banking system, just as the first wave did, in the form of more commercial bank deposits. The process now repeats itself but with slightly smaller numbers each time around. The deposit is then reclassified as a 'reserve' and ninety per cent of that becomes an 'excess reserve' which, once again is available for a new “loan”.
“Thus, the $1 million of the first wave of fiat money gives birth to $900,000 in the second wave, and that gives birth to $810,000 in the third wave ($900,000 less 10% reserve). It takes about 28 times through the revolving door of deposits becoming loans, becoming deposits, becoming more loans, until the process plays itself out to the maximum effect which is [that] the amount of fiat money created by the banking cartel is approximately nine times the amount of the original government debt which made the entire process possible.
“When the original debt itself is added to that figure, we finally have approximately ten times the amount of the underlying government debt. To the degree that this newly created money floods into the economy, in excess of goods and services, it causes the purchasing power of all money, both old and new, to decline. Prices go up because the relative value of the money has gone down. The result is the same as if that purchasing power had been taken from us in taxes. The reality of this process, therefore, is that it is a hidden tax up to ten times the national debt.
“Without realizing it, Americans have paid, in addition to the regular taxes, a completely hidden tax equal to many times the national debt! And that is still not the end of the process. Since our money supply is purely arbitrary with nothing behind it except debt, its quantity can go down as well as up. When people are going deeper into debt, the nation's money supply expands and prices go up, but when they pay off their debts and refuse to renew, the money supply contracts and prices tumble. This alternation between periods of expansion and contraction of the money supply is the underlying cause of booms, busts and depressions.
“The only beneficiaries are the political scientists in Congress who enjoy the effect of unlimited revenue to perpetuate their power, and the monetary scientists within the cartel called the Federal Reserve System who have been able to harness the American people, without their knowing it, to the yoke of modern feudalism.”
Do you understand now what a criminal enterprise the Congress, the U.S. Treasury and the Federal Reserve have been operating? Do you see why President Roosevelt and the Congress ignored the obvious will of the people and took their gold to protect the bankers scheme in 1933? And why Congress can appropriate to no end, with bail-outs and give-aways for the whole world?
In history, most fiat money schemes lasted only a few years and rarely over a decade. The Fed has been running their system in a total fiat mode for 70 years. The monetary scientists have honed their fraud to a fine art, keeping tight controls and making adjustments to extract their control over every last drop of American productivity without creating the collapse of their otherwise hollow scheme. Their partners at the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, also creations of the U.S. Congress, have stretched the fiat money net around the globe.
And so now you know where that “dollar” bill in your hand came from. Does it still look like the dollar bill you thought it was when you started reading this article? End Of Article

Well, I don't know about you - but it sure makes me wonder - and if this is all true - and with the global economy in 'crisis' as it is said to be, then where will it all go, what will happen, how will it all end?? Guess we will just have to watch and see what happens... So Hang On Now...

WITH MONEY... With money you can buy a house, but not a home. With money, you can buy a clock, but not time. You can buy a bed, but not sleep. With money, you can buy a book, but not knowledge. With money you can see a doctor, but you can’t buy good health. With money, you can buy a position, but not respect. You can buy blood, but not Life and you can buy sex, but you cannot buy love. It seems like there are a lot of things you just can’t buy, no matter how much money you have. But then again, the best things in Life are free.

It is better to be poor and happy than rich and miserable. Money will buy lots of things, but it won't buy happiness.

Five Important Lessons

Five Important Lessons To Make Us Think About The Way We Treat Other People.
By An Unknown Author

First Important Lesson - The Cleaning Lady. During my second month of college, our professor gave us a pop quiz. I was a conscientious student and had breezed through the questions until I read the last one: ‘What is the first name of the woman who cleans the school?’ Surely this was some kind of joke. I had seen the cleaning woman many times. She was tall, dark-haired and in her fifties, and even though she wore a name tag, I had no idea what her name was. I handed in my paper, leaving the last question blank. Just before class ended, one student asked if the last question would count toward our quiz grade. “Absolutely,” said the professor. “In your careers, you will meet many people. All are significant. They deserve your attention and care, even if all you do is smile and say ‘Hello’ to them. I’ve never forgotten that lesson. I also learned the cleaning woman’s name was Dorothy.

Second Important Lesson - Pickup In The Rain. One night, at 11:30 PM, an elderly African-American woman was standing on the side of an Alabama highway trying to endure a lashing rainstorm. Her car had broken down and she desperately needed a ride. Soaking wet, she decided to flag down the next car. A young white man stopped to help her, generally unheard of in those conflict filled days of the1960's. The man took her to safety, helped her get assistance and put her into a taxicab. She seemed to be in a big hurry, but wrote down his address and thanked him. Seven days went by and then came a knock on the man’s door. To his surprise, a giant console color TV was delivered to his home. A special note was attached.. It read: “Thank you so much for assisting me on the highway the other night. The rain drenched not only my clothes, but also me spirits. Then you came along. Because of you, I was able to make it to my dying husband’s side just before he passed away. God bless you for helping me and unselfishly serving others. Sincerely, Mrs Nat King Cole”

Third Important Lesson - Always Remember Those Who Serve. In the days when an ice cream sundae cost much less, a ten year old boy entered a hotel coffee shop and sat at a table. A waitress put a glass of water in front of him. “How much is an ice cream sundae,” the boy asked? “Fifty cents,” replied the waitress. The little boy pulled his hand out of his pocket and studied the coins in it. “Well, how much is a plain dish of ice cream,” he inquired? By now more people were waiting for a table and the waitress was growing impatient. “Thirty-five cents,” she hurriedly replied. The little boy again counted his coins. “I’ll have the plain ice cream,” he said. The waitress brought the ice cream, put the bill on the table and walked away. The boy finished the ice cream, paid the cashier and left. When the waitress came back, she began to cry as she wiped down the table. There, placed neatly beside the boy’s empty ice cream dish, were two nickels and five pennies. You see, the little boy couldn’t have had the sundae, because he had to have enough money left to leave his waitress a tip.

Fourth Important Lesson - The Obstacle In Our Path. In ancient times, a King had his workers place a huge boulder in the middle of a roadway. Then he hid himself and watched to see if anyone would try to clear the way of this big rock. Some of the Kings wealthiest merchants and courtiers came by and simply walked around it. Many loudly blamed the King for not keeping the roads clear, but none did anything about getting the stone out of the way. Then a peasant came along carrying a load of vegetables. Upon approaching the boulder, the peasant laid down his burden and tried to move the stone to the side of the road, where it would be out of the way for other travelers. After much pushing and straining he finally succeeded. After the peasant picked his load of vegetables back up, he noticed a purse lying in the road where the boulder had been. The purse contained many gold coins and a note from the King indicating that the gold was for the person who removed the boulder from the roadway. The peasant learned what many of us never understand! Every obstacle presents us with an opportunity to improve our condition.
Fifth Important Lesson - Giving When It Counts. Many years ago, when I worked as a volunteer at a hospital, I got to know a little girl named Liz who was suffering from a rare and serious disease. Her only chance of recovery appeared to be a blood transfusion from her five year old brother, who had miraculously survived the same disease and had developed the antibodies needed to combat the illness. The doctor explained the situation to the little boy and asked him if he would be willing to give his blood to his sister. I saw him hesitate for only a moment before taking a deep breath and saying, “Yes, I’ll do it if it will save my sister.” As the transfusion progressed, the brave little boy lay next to his sister and smiled, as we all did, seeing the color returning to her cheeks. Then the boy’s face grew pale and his smile faded. He looked up at the doctor and asked with a trembling voice, “Will I start to die right away?” Being young, the little boy had misunderstood the doctor. He had thought that he was going to have to give his sister all of his blood in order to save her life.

Remember these five lessons and work like you don’t need the money, love like you’ve never been hurt, and dance like you do when nobody’s watching. The End By An Unknown Author

THE ROOM -

This Is My Unauthorized Remake of Brian Moore’s unauthorized remake of Joshua Harris's essay, ‘The Room’ or as I call it,

‘The Lifestory Files’.

This has been my re-occurring dream. I am very, very relaxed and drifting off to sleep. I am almost there. but not quite. In that place between wakefulness and dreams, I find myself in ‘The Room’. There are no distinguishing features in ‘the room’ except for the one wall covered with small index card file drawers. They are like the Cardex files at the library whose drawers are labeled by author or subject in alphabetical order. But these files, which stretch from the floor to the ceiling and are seemingly endless in either direction, are labeled with very different titles. As I drift off to sleep , the dream begins with me drawing near this wall of files. The first label to catch my attention, of course, is one that reads 'Girls I Have Liked.' I open it and began flipping through the cards. I quickly shut it, shocked to realize that I recognize the name written on each of these cards. I step back and look at this wall of files and then, in an instant, and without being told, I know exactly Where I Am. This lifeless room, with its many files, is a crude catalog system for my entire Life. Here are written the actions of my every moment, big and small, in a detail my memory could never match. These are my Lifestory files. A sense of wonder and curiosity, coupled with horror and fear, stir within me. This is both amazing and scary! I begin randomly opening various of these ‘Lifestory’ files and exploring their contents. Some bring joy and sweet, wonderful memories. Others bring a sense of shame and regret, some so intense that I look over my shoulder to see if anyone is watching me. Oh Shame On Me!, some of the things I have done. .... A file labeled 'Friends' is next to one marked 'Friends I Have Betrayed.' The titles ring from the mundane to the outright weird, like ‘Places That Scarred Me.’ And then there are ‘Cars I Have Had’, 'Books I Have Read,' 'Lies I Have Told,' 'Comfort I Have Given,' 'Jokes I Have Laughed At’. Some are almost hilarious in their exactness: 'Things I've Yelled At My Brothers.' Others I can't laugh at: 'Things I Have Done In My Anger', ‘Things I Have Stolen’, 'Things I Have Muttered Under My Breath At My Parents', and then a similar one for my children and another for my co-workers. Oh yeah, and there’s the one that makes me cringe titled ‘Things I Have Yelled At My Computer’ and another labeled ‘Times I Have Completely Blown It’.The categories are endless. I never cease to be surprised by some of the contents, when I have the courage to look. Other times, I know in advance what I’m going to see, if I can actually force myself to look. Often there are many more cards in a file than I expect. Sometimes fewer than I hope. I am overwhelmed by the sheer volume of the Life I had lived in these sixty-some short years. So many experiences. And so many forgotten ones. Could it be possible that I have had the time in my years to fill each of these thousands or seemingly millions of cards? But each card confirms this is true. Each card is written in my own handwriting and signed with my very own signature. When I pull out the file marked 'TV Shows I Have Watched', I realize that the file drawers grow to contain their contents. The cards in this drawer are packed tightly and yet after two or three yards, I don't find the end of this deep file. I shut it, shamed, not so much by the quality of shows but more by the vast amount of time I know that this file represents. I cannot bring myself to open the drawer labeled 'Mistakes I Have Made' but when I come to a file marked 'My Negative Thoughts And Deeds’, I feel a chill run through my entire body. I pull this file out only an inch, not willing to test its size and I draw out a card and, reading it, shudder at its detailed content. I quickly return the card to the file and close the drawer, not wanting to even guess at how many cards might be within. I feel sick to think that such moments in my Life have been recorded. I start seeing certain past images in my mind. An almost animal rage arises in me. One thought dominates my mind: No one must ever know of this file. No one should ever see these cards! No one must ever even see this room! But I still have to destroy these particular cards!' I would be so ashamed if they were read by any one. I know that I couldn’t even bear to look at some of them, myself. In an insane frenzy I yank the file drawer back out. Its size doesn't matter now. I have to empty it and destroy the cards. It is an unbelievably large file. But as I take it at one end and began pounding it on the floor, I can not dislodge any of the cards. They won’t come out. I become desperate and pull out a single card, only to find it as strong as steel when I try to tear it. Defeated and utterly helpless, I return the file drawer to its slot. Leaning my forehead against the wall, I let out a long, self-pitying sigh. “Oh Geeze, What Do I Do?” Maybe I should try to glue this drawer shut or in some other manner secure it so that it can never again be opened. I can’t bear the thought of really being known as the scoundrel that I am. And then an amazing awareness comes over me. It is the awareness that history is recorded, whether we like it or not. And that only by being aware of history’s existence, being aware of both the good and the bad in our Life and trying to learn from all of our Life experiences will any of what we do in our time here on this Earth be of any benefit to ourselves or anyone else. We cannot hide from ourselves any longer. We have to see ourselves as the evolving animals we truly are. We have to acknowledge both our positive and negative selves, for as in everything else in the known Universe, the positive would not exist if the negative wasn’t there. This is a real awakening. And I must follow through. But now that I’ve dreamed myself back awake, that would be a whole other story in a completely different dream...Let’s See - Now what was this dream really all about????

Great Story, I think. Thanks to Joshua Harris and Brian Moore for writing their story and my apologies for re-writing it and putting my own spin on it. The idea is just too good not to pass on as food for thought for those who are interested in such things.....

Monkey World by Ernie Cline

The Monkeys. There are billions of galaxies in the observable Universe. And each of them contain hundreds of billions of stars. In one of these galaxies, orbiting one of these stars, lies a little blue planet. And this planet is run by a bunch of monkeys. Now these monkeys don’t think of themselves as monkeys. They don’t even think of themselves as animals. In fact, they love to list all of the things they think separate them from the animals. Opposable thumbs - self awareness. They use words like homo-erectus and australopithecus - you say tomatoe, I say tomato. They’re animals alright - they’re monkeys. Monkeys with high speed digital fiberoptic technology, but monkeys nevertheless. I mean, they’re clever, you’ve got to give them that. The Pyramids, skyscrapers, phantom jets, The Great Wall of China - that’s all pretty impressive, for a bunch of monkeys. Monkeys whose brains have evolved to such an unmanageable size that its now pretty much impossible for them to stay happy for any length of time. In fact, they’re the only animals who think they’re supposed to be happy. All of the other animals can just be. But it’s not that simple for the monkeys. You see, the monkeys are cursed with consciousness - and so the monkeys are afraid - so the monkeys worry. The monkeys worry about everything, but mostly about what all the other monkeys think - because the monkeys desperately want to fit in with the rest of the monkeys, which is pretty hard to do because a lot of the monkeys hate each other. This is really what separates them from the other animals. These monkeys hate. They hate monkeys that are different, monkeys from different places, monkeys who are a different color. You see, the monkeys feel alone - all six billion of them. Some of the monkeys pay another monkey to listen to their problems. The monkeys want answers and the monkeys know they are going to die, so the monkeys make up gods and then they worship them. And then the monkeys start to argue over which made up god is better. And then the monkeys get really pissed off and this is usually when the monkeys decide that it’s a good time to start killing each other. So the monkeys wage war. The monkeys make hydrogen bombs. The monkeys have got their entire planet wired up to explode. The monkeys just can’t help it. Some of the monkeys play to a sold out crowd of other monkeys. The monkeys make trophies and then they give them to each other, like it means something. Some of the monkeys think they’ve got it all figured out. Some of the monkeys read Nietzsche. The monkeys argue about Nietzsche, without ever giving any consideration to the fact that Nietzsche was just another monkey. The monkeys make plans. The monkeys fall in love. The monkeys have sex and then they make more monkeys. The monkeys make music, and then the monkeys dance. Dance monkeys, dance. The monkeys make a hell of a lot of noise. The monkeys have so much potential, if they would only apply themselves. The monkeys shave the hair off of their bodies in blatant denial of their true monkey nature The monkeys build giant monkey hives that they call cities. The monkeys draw a lot of imaginary lines in the dirt. The monkeys are running out of oil which is what fuels their precarious civilization. The monkeys are polluting and raping their planet like there is no tomorrow. The monkeys like to pretend that everything is just fine. Some of the monkeys actually believe that the entire Universe was created for their benefit. As you can see, these are some messed up monkeys. These monkeys are at once the ugliest and most beautiful creatures on the planet. And the monkeys don’t want to be monkeys. They want to be something else. But they’re not.............
Posted without permission..Transcribed from the Internet video by Ernie Cline found at:
http://www.dotsub.com/films/dancemonkeys/index.php?autostart=true&language_setting=en_404

There’s more to the Monkey World story, of course. Ernie Cline just touched on the basics. The monkeys are, indeed, both the brightest and the dumbest of living things. Some of the brightest monkeys have built a space station that orbits their planet, where some monkeys live. Some of the dumbest monkeys broadcast their ignorance over airwaves for others to hear, perpetuating their ignorance. There are, indeed, monkeys that fit every description, from one extreme to the other. But the biggest problem the monkeys have is not admitting that they are monkeys. When the day comes that the monkey called man can first acknowledge and then accept his animalness, that will be the day that everything will change. Let us hope that days comes soon before the monkeys pass the point of no return and destroy themselves.

The Dash by Linda Ellis

I read of a man who stood to speak at the funeral of a friend. He referred to the dates from the beginning, to the end. He noted that first came the date of her birth, and spoke of the following date with tears, but he said what mattered most was the dash between the years. For the dash represents all the time that she spent alive on Earth, and now only those who loved her know what that little line is worth. For it matters not, how much we own, the cars...the house...the cash... What matters is how we live and love, and how we spend our dash. So think about this long and hard; are there things you’d like to change? For you never know how much time is left that can still be rearranged. If we could just slow down enough to consider what’s true and real... And always try to understand the way that other people feel. And be less quick to anger and show appreciation more and love the people in our lives...like we’ve never loved before.. If we treat each other with respect, and more often wear a smile... Remembering that this special dash will only last a while. So when your eulogy is being read, with your life’s actions to rehash, would you be proud of the things they say - about how you spent your dash?

Transcribed from an Internet video, edited and posted here without permission..

A Friends Obit - - By Observers

Seems like just right along now, someone I've known gets their name in the newspaper. Another one of my high school classmates has died. I saw his obituary in the days paper. He was a banker who was fond of saying, “I rent money.” Though he had never smoked, he died of lung cancer. He was four months younger than me. He was also a very nice guy who had fought his cancer - fighting the good fight right up until the very end. Actually, though we weren’t close friends in high school, we had known each other and were in a couple of classes together, but that was just for my sophomore year and then I was transferred to another school. Forty some years later, he became a customer at the store where I work and we had re-bonded, reminiscing about the good times we had enjoyed and remembering the names and commenting on the status of many of our former classmates. I had witnessed my friend’s quick, yet gradual deterioration, seeing him for just a few minutes when he came in on his monthly visits. I had watched him yo-yo from periods of holding his own against his disease to other periods where it was obvious that he was physically succumbing to it. Physically, but not mentally. And though I could tell, through the brief conversations that we had, that he both realized and accepted his eventual impending fate, he never quit being his same optimistic self. His passion to work with people and to make sure they were successful, not only within business but also in life, was very important to him. Reading his obituary brought to mind a You Tube clip that was recently sent to me. It was a clip taken from an Oprah Winfrey show and was an on-air repeat performance of a professors lecture. His presentation included a slide show of pictures, most of which were of him, both as a child and as a man and of his families.
The edited (- - -) transcribed transcript from that You Tube clip goes something like this. - - - - -When 46 year old Randy Pausch, husband and father of three young children, was confronted with his own imminent death from advanced pancreatic cancer, the Carnegie-Mellon professor followed the academic tradition of giving his students the typical final class called ‘The Last Lecture’, which is based on the hypothetical that if you knew you were going to die, and you had one last lecture, what you would say to your students. For Randy Pausch, the lecture had a very special, yet ominous meaning. "Let’s be clear", he starts, "This stinks. ............. But I can’t do anything about the fact that I am going to die. I’m pursuing medical treatment, but I pretty much know how this movie is going to end. And I can’t control the cards I’m dealt, just how I play the hand. - - - There is an expression I like, ‘Experience is what you get when you don’t get what you want.’ - - - The brick walls that are in our way are there for a reason. They’re not there to keep us out. They are there to give us a way to show how much we want it (whatever it is we are trying for). - - - First off - Life is about having fun. There is a notion of ‘Have Fun All The Time’. Have a sense of fun and wonder that should never go away. Never, ever, underestimate the importance of having fun. I Am Dying and I am choosing to have fun - today, tomorrow, and every other day that I have left. - - - If you want to achieve your dream, you’d better work and play well with others. And that means you’d better live with integrity. Simple advice that you’ll find hard to follow, ‘Just Tell the Truth.’ - - Second thing - When You Screw Up, Apologize. There are a lot of bad apologies. - A good apology has three parts. ‘ I’m Sorry’ - ‘It Was My Fault’ - ‘How Do I Make It Right?’ Most people skip that third part - though that is what makes it sincere. - - Third thing - - We all have people we don’t like, that have done things we don’t like. And what I’ve found is that no one is pure evil. If you wait long enough, they will show you their good side. - - Also, Show Gratitude - Gratitude is a very simple thing. And it is a very powerful thing. And lastly, I don’t think whining and complaining really solves the problem. You can choose to take your finite time and energy and effort and you can spend it complaining or you can spend it playing the game hard, which is probably going to be more helpful to you in the long run. - - - It’s not just about how to achieve your childhood dreams. It’s much broader than that. It’s about how to live your Life. Because if you lead your Life the right way, the karma will take care of itself. -The dream will come to you. - If you live properly, the dream will come to you .... Thank You"-------- This is where, when I first watched the YouTube video, I stood up and applauded. I was very moved by Randy Pausch. And upon reflection, I was moved as well by the attitude that my old classmate displayed, or should I say the attitude that he ‘lived’. For, indeed, he lived with a smile on his face just as though there was no tomorrow. And now both of these courageous individuals provide me with an example of how to live my own life as it unwinds and brings me nearer and nearer to my own end. . I can only hope that when my time comes - when the doctor looks at me and says “It’s terminal!”, I can only hope that I will have the intestinal fortitude to be able to face my imminent demise with the same positive attitude that both my friend and Oprah’s guest were able to possess with such incredible certitude....... I can only hope........

As It Comes, So It Goes. That's Life. By Observers

I was reading the day’s paper earlier today - the TV was on in the background. I had just switched it from a news channel. -CSI, Las Vegas was on, a rerun I believe. It was in the last few minutes of the show, and Grissom was doing his typical closing mono-moral scene. He was reading from an unknown book, and I missed the first few words. (Wish I had TIVO). Anyway, I don’t know if the story he was reading were words written by a real or fictitious person. It was a story about a person’s view of watching Nature. It went something like this;
‘ ’ While standing in my favorite spot upon a large shelf of rock in a clearing of the tall trees, high upon the side of my mountain, I spy upon the morning sky just above the distant horizon, a familiar sight. It is a distinctive black dot, zigzagging through the midmorning sky. I say to myself, “Here It Comes.” Then I watch the black dot as it grows ever larger. I know from past experience that this little black dot is, in fact, a magnificent great bird, one with a wingspan wider than I am tall. It follows the crease in the mountains where the river runs like a wavy ribbon upon a velvet pillow. Back and forth. Back and forth. Up and down and up and down. Sometimes so high it is almost out of sight, and other times skimming along just above the upper branches of the tall trees, becoming nearly invisible amongst the steely treetops. I stand perfectly still, knowing that in a little while, this beautiful flying lifeform will pass right near me, just as it always does on its morning way up the river. It must be the lay of the landscape that brings it so close to me, or maybe it is something else - I don’t know. But I do know that it is always a thrill when it happens. It always flies, majestic like, in my direction, almost like it knows I am there waiting. It takes its time, growing ever larger as it nears - then in what seems like a flash There It Is - big and bold and beautiful and mulit-colored, too - and looking directly at me, just as if it was bidding me both a happy hello and a sad goodbye in one big swooping gesture - and then, in the blink of an eye, it has past me by, though its scent lingers just briefly before dissipating into the forest air. What a thrill this is. Even though it’s just a few fleeting moments and then it’s gone, it is a thrill I love. And so it goes. I watch as the big bird follows the zig and the zag of the winding river, growing ever smaller in the distant sky. And then it disappears, and with the same degree of awe I had at its coming, I strain my eyes and say to myself, “There It Goes.”
And then I smile at the memory and at knowing that, undoubtably, somewhere not to far from me on another mountainside on up the river, another lucky soul is looking to the downstream horizon and exclaiming, “Here It Comes” ‘’.

I like that story. Mine, unfortunately, is longer and not nearly as good as the one Grissom read, his was much more poetic. However, my version expresses the same parable about Life. Both people and things come into our lives and then are gone. And for that matter, Life, Itself, comes to us, and then is gone. And so the moral of this little story is that Life is short and, indeed, we should enjoy every moment while its here, because soon enough this too shall pass.

Label Me Human - - By Observers

Who (or what) Am I ?
The answer is in the label. Labels, labels, labels - we have way too many labels telling us who and what we are but there's really only one label that matters. So again, who am I? Well, I am a heterosexual sixty-one year old male caucasian homo sapien living on Planet Earth. I have also had many other 'labels'. When I was a youngster I was a Cub Scout of America. Later I was a Boy Scout of America. I was also a Junior Deputy Sheriff for Johnson County, Kansas. About that same time I was a member of the Overland Park Junior Optimist Club and, years later, a member of Optimist International. In the various schools I attended, I was a Bulldog, a Trojan, a Bruin, a Lancer, and a Viking. I was a member of the Boy's Glee Club, the choir, and the chorale. I was a Sergeant in the Security Police of the Air Force Reserves. For many years, I would check the 'Christian' square when required on all of the various applications and questionnaires required of me. I have been 'Single', 'Married', 'Separated', and 'Divorced'. I am a son as well as a father. I am an obese asthmatic and a diabetic. I am a jazz and blues lover. I have been called a critic, a liberal, an extremist, and a cynic. I have been both an employer and an employee, giving me numerous labels in both of these categories. I have been a Republican, a Democrat, and an Independent. As I write this, I am alive, but soon enough I'll be dead. . I am a Kansan (however that is defined) and an American and I 'love' 'my' country. I grew up as a patriot, saying the Pledge of Allegiance and singing The National Anthem. I am American, but only because I was born here, in what has been, without a doubt, the greatest nation in history. Had I been born elsewhere, however, I would be called something else, and without a doubt I would be a patriot there. - - - - - - -
This is, of course, just a partial list of my many labels.
Labels, labels, labels. I have had many labels describe me, yet I find that, in spite of how they define me, there is, at base, little difference between myself and other people, including people from other places upon the Earth. This simple fact should be something that is readily acceptable by all people, but unfortunately we all tend to think we are different (better) than other peoples. This is true of us, no matter where we are from... Basically, except for the cultural differences, I am just like any other sixty-one year old male human being. And though I have not chosen to live in any other country, I believe other people, from other countries, are indeed my equal. How could it be otherwise. I don't want to be misunderstood here. I have lived a very spoiled American life and am very thankful for it. I do not take for granted the rights and freedoms I have as an American citizen - (it is those very rights and freedoms that make us great) - nor do I take for granted the lives of those who have fought and died protecting those rights and freedoms for me. As I said, I love my country - just as my Canadian friend loves his country and just as my Hispanic friend loves his country - and my African friend loves his country - and I would suppose if I had friends from other countries, they would say they love 'their' country, too. I may have had many labels, but first of all, at base, there is really only One label that I need.
I am an animal with the label 'Human Being'. That is all. Any of the other labels just tend to separate me from the rest of the mass of Life. And while I am, in a way, separated from the rest of Life, I am still very much a part of it all.
In America, we say we believe that 'all men (and women) are created equal'. This doesn't say that just all 'American's' are created equal, but that 'all people' are created equal. All People. Created Equal. And then what? Then we are indoctrinated with our individual national traditions and religious mores. The tradition, the time, and the culture into which we are born usually determines both our path and our attitude. Oftentimes, those who are fortunate enough to have been born in or live in one of the more affluent countries have a tendency to have an attitude of superiority and deem themselves 'better' than people who live in less affluent countries. This is an attitude that speaks of most all Americans I know. America, the Greatest Country, at least in the egotistical eyes of most of it's citizens. Well, look out America! What made America great is now transforming nations around the world. Things like the industrial revolution, free enterprise, the spirit of entrepreneurship, and the ability to utilize natural resources are now taking hold in many places around the globe. Likewise, the desire to be free from tyranny, to have freedom of movement, freedom of speech, freedom to choose, or not choose, a personal religion, and all the rest of the freedoms recognized in the 'Free World' have become contagious and are now being pursued by most all people everywhere. The world is changing - and changing very rapidly. It would appear that America may have had it's fifteen minutes of fame.
Oh, America is still the 'greatest nation,' and will likely remain so for some time, but other countries are now on the rise and in many areas are one-upping the good ole USA. For the first time since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution, America now finds itself behind other countries in many areas - education, health care, infant mortality, - the list goes on.. The global playing field is becoming more and more level and the youth of today inately sense the urgent need to move toward tolerance and acceptance. "The social issues at the core of today's culture wars will be moot within a generation", writes Pete Abel. "Gen Y, the first U.S. generation with a supermajority that's effectively colorblind, seems to be equally open-minded on matters of choice, on whom we choose to love and when we choose to reproduce. If that's true - if the enlightenment of our children has effectively decided these issues - then there's little reason to continue fighting about them." . So we learn to accept.
This is the way of our social evolution, younger generations making the evolutionary changes that their parents and grandparents are to set in their ways to make. Eventually, these young will age, and their young will make the next series of changes. And so it goes. Needless to say, the young people of today will find themselves living in a world unlike any known before. Life in the twenty-first century will require us to accept both our animalness and our oneness. We may have come from different geographical origins, but we are One Race. We will all have to learn to live in harmony as the people of the human race living in our One World. We will if we survive, that is. But that, dear friend, is a whole other subject.