We like to
make fun of that poor kid with his tongue stuck to the frozen flagpole. Why
would ANYONE do anything like that? What were they thinking?
Our world is
a complex place. If you look around, you see all sorts of things that might
make you wonder:
Who thought
to mash up grain, and mix it with stuff, and heat it until it became bread?
Who figured
out how to eat a puffer fish? How many people did they see die first?
What would
make someone slap together some wood and cloth, climb aboard and try to make it
fly?
Why would
someone try to cure disease with leeches? Or bread mold?
Man
is a curious creature, and we like a challenge. Why do we climb mountains?
Because they are there (and if someone doesn’t dare us, we dare ourselves.)
I’m
afraid we’re killing our curiosity and our spirit of adventure. We grew up
drinking out of the garden hose, but we’re afraid to let our kids do it. We try
to secure them in bubble wrap, and I can’t help but think that they pick up on
our fears for them, and each generation becomes that much less sure of
themselves.
We’ve
also become horribly averse to making mistakes, but that’s how we learn. Sure,
you don‘t want your child to burn their hand on a hot stove, but sometimes they
just have to do it to grow into the kind of people that mankind needs.
“No,
Orville! You keep that contraption on the ground or you’ll get hurt!”
“Neil,
don’t you DARE go to the moon! You won’t be able to breathe up there!”
“We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard.”– President John F. Kennedy
When
I was twelve I watched Neil make that “one small step” onto the moon, and I was
sure that it would be another small step for us to get to Mars. On July 20th
we’ll celebrate the 46th anniversary of those first steps, and we’re
still all trapped on this 3rd rock from the sun.
Where
are the leaders to get us there? Who has the vision? Where is the sense of
adventure?
When’s
the last time you did something that made people say: “What were you thinking?”
Just
saying…
<<<>>>
This week, “The Unreliability of the Mature Mind” is our
couponed feature (Dimentia as a defense mechanism against aliens… where does he
come up with these ideas?) Here’s the smashwords.com link: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/363776?ref=NoTimeToThink
Use coupon
code VR93U to save 50% off the list
price at check out at smashwords. The coupon will be good through Monday, June
1st. Enjoy!
<<<>>>
COMING
JUNE 5TH – William’s 5th OUT OF MY MIND short story
collection – stay tuned…
<<<>>>
William Mangieri’s writing (including his
latest ePublication: “#InWhoseReality?”) can be found in many places, such as:
- His Amazon Author page: http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B008O8CBDY
- Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/william-mangieri?store=book&keyword=william+mangieri
- Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/NoTimeToThink
- Createspace: https://www.createspace.com/pub/simplesitesearch.search.do?sitesearch_query=william+mangieri&sitesearch_type=STORE
Connect with him (and LIKE and FOLLOW) “William
Mangieri’s Writing Page” on facebook, at: http://www.facebook.com/NoTimeToThink
Or on his Goodreads author page: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6893616.William_Mangieri
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