Be Shiny!

Small minds discuss people.

Average minds discuss events.

Great minds discuss ideas.

-Eleanor Roosevelt

I ran across that quote years ago, at the time I did not know who said those words, but I felt the truth weighing heavily in them. As I sat there stunned, the resonance of those words vibrating strongly inside of me, I knew that what I aspire to become in this life is a thinker. I love to ponder ideas and the path on to which others reached their conclusions. I don't just want to know "what" they think so that I can judge it as right or wrong, I want to know "why" they think as they do, what led them to believing this image versus that image to be the truth. I guess that's where my frustration with the cable news shows resides, notice that Mrs. Roosevelt didn't say debate, she said discuss. Discuss is calm, rational and open minded, debate is to challenge the other's ideas. I believe that when exploring an idea, we should be in the idea, suspend our judgments of what we know to be truth and step into another’s world for a moment.

I am enjoying writing for the American Chronicle more than I can express, although the knowledge that thousands of people have read my words is a little intimidating. I've received much e-mail, mostly thanking me for helping to open people's minds, a huge compliment for me. The most read article thus far has been "Looking for UFOs in 2007", followed by "For A Good Scare...Conspiracy Theories Abound" and in third is "The Internet is Alive with Chemtrails". I am grateful to know that I am not alone in my fascination of these ideas.

I've received the most e-mail concerning the Chemtrail article, some thanking me, some sending links to other information on the subject, some telling me it is HAARP and weather modification and one saying that I had not studied the subject deep enough and I could not straddle the fence forever. I have come to no conclusions about the Chemtrail phenomenon and for some reason my mind leans more towards philosophy, when I encounter the subject, than it does science and conspiracy.

I have often said that you cannot un-see what you have seen and many do not see the lines in the sky, are not aware of the speculation bubbling in small pockets around the world and for them they do not exist. For those who have seen them, now they witness them regularly. So my mind wonders, have they always been there and we've not seen them? What is the difference between those who do see them and those who do not? Is the simple knowledge that they exist enough to make them viewable? I personally was not aware of chemtrails until I read about them on the Internet and as a life long sky watcher, a sun, bird and nature lover, I find that very odd. I am an observant person, but I didn't notice planes leaving ropey trails across the sky? How strange is that?

So with all great mysteries, the clues are hidden in sight and it is the perception that determines our truths. So perhaps for me to view chemtrails as a spiritual or philosophical issue, instead of the fearful expression of death raining from the clouds, is just my view that the world is a mystical and miraculous place and that we are merely infants in the Universe. With fear reigning supreme in our society these days, I refuse to accept any ideas that are based and built on terror.

We must remember that feeling hope, loving and laughing and focusing on the positive creates real and powerful energy. We must remember that we are creating the future with our thoughts and with our fears. If you knew what you thought today would become your tomorrow, wouldn't you be careful? There is nothing in creation that was not a thought first, everything that surrounds us, from the computer monitor to books to TV to sports to medicine to religion to music to cars and space shuttles to ipods and cell phones, each of these things began as a small thought in someone’s mind.

Be Shiny!