We, as a human race, have lost much in the effort to control nature and our surroundings. In light of all the breakthroughs in science and other areas one must be careful not to jump on the bandwagon that says all of this progress is good. One development that seems good leads to a host of other connected areas that take away not only our freedom but the freedom of the natural world. We are on the bottom of the food chain. Don't kid yourself. We are dependent on the Earth and Nature... no matter what anyone may try to say or prove. Science does not have the answers. The Pentagon certainly has no answers...Ask any combat vet...Organized religion doesn't hold them either. Political leaders haven't the foggiest notion of what a real answer is. Manipulation of feelings through prescribed medication isn't an answer either even though many feel it is. When you think about what is going on in the world today you may not see what lies just below the surface unless you really put some effort into making connections. There are instant feel-good answers given by "experts" and instant solutions to what seems to be the "main" issue at the given moment. Laws are passed after much talk and uproar. Then someone says okay, we solved that one. Everyone goes home and smugly pulls the covers over their heads while thinking everything is going to be fine.However, these solutions never address the real problem hiding below the surface of the "main" issue of the moment. The real problem is complex yet simple. It is a problem of the heart. Man has a big void in his heart. Couple this void with a selfish attitude towards nature and Mother Earth...a refusal to see what is before man ...and what have you got? ...a sickness of the human spirit...Society sends out a dual message. Religion does the same thing. We scream for "ideals and values" yet never stop to figure out who or what has defined the ideals and values anyway? Always man is pressed to want more and do more. Progress...new...improved...better... Words that are designed to push man into the getting of more and doing more. But do what and want what....  And at what price? Promises made by others jerk us around into believing in something. And if something goes wrong with the promises held out...then what? Who takes the blame? It's always the other guy with the attitude problem. It's always the fault of something other than ourselves. We blame a devil or an outside force that makes us do something that should not be done. Fingers are pointed and blame laid at a doorstep other than our own. Man blindly follows what is laid out for the human race. If an "expert" says something is good for us then the "expert" must be correct. But ask yourself... who did the "expert" listen to in the meantime? Mankind has lost purpose in the shuffle. In the race of  "it can be done"... has anyone ever stopped to wonder if  "can do" means "should do"? Everytime I hear of some new breakthrough and how much it will benefit all of mankind...I shudder...because it is not true! Manipulation of the world, humans, animals and nature itself has put man in a very precarious spot where everything is at stake and I do mean everything. What is coming cannot be stopped by ordinary means. It cannot be stopped only by positive thoughts or a nightly prayer. And the really sad aspect about all of this is that it didn't have to be at all. Choices were made for me and you a very long time ago.These choices were made by other people who presumed to think and speak for us. This is still going on and my choices are very limited now.  So are yours... Until we get up and say NO to what we are being offered the choices grow smaller every day. Remember....the time is near. Even though the Y2k events predicted did not materialize as so many thought they would...it does not mean that we have the right to continue on and not make needed changes.