OBVIOUSLY, I AM AN EXPERT!

I have a mouth. I can write. I can make noises and write paragraphs that sound ever so reasonable. People actually listen to me and read what I write. Obviously, I am an expert. Is that not the way that it works? Well, you tell me. You are an expert too.

Some people call this the Information Age. How will people in future define our time? What will people call this era hundreds of years from now? We can guess, but we don’t know. We only know that we are confused by the proliferation of “facts” and hiding our feelings of panic from each other with bluster and a false air of confidence, particularly if we are a talking head, like Max Headroom.

What have we got to be panicked about? There are real, certifiable problems.

• Over 50 dead, 200 injured in Las Vegas after deadliest shooting in modern US history (abcnews.go.com)
• The 2017 Hurricane Season Really Is More Intense Than Normal (nytimes.com)
• Puerto Rico’s nightmare recovery (cnn.com)
• Trump Targets North Korea, Iran, Venezuela in UN Speech (learningenglish.voanews.com)
• China and Russia are totally playing Trump together (businessinsider.com/)
• And so forth.

Who has the right take on these problems? Well, you tell me. You are an expert too.

There is also a far longer lists possible problems, problems like: global warming, socialism, white supremacy, Islamic terrorism, illegal immigration, catastrophic solar flares, collisions with asteroids, and so forth. Some of these problems, if real, could destroy all human life. Others, if they develop as some people fear they could may wreck our nation. In just a few generations, our constitutional republic could become a dim memory buried in the dark recesses of a totalitarian state.

Who has the right take on these problems? Well, you tell me. You are an expert too.

Who is to blame? Often, that seems to be our first instinct. We see a problem. We become fearful, and we try to fight or flee. Instead of fixing the problem, whatever it is, real or not, we blame someone and seek their annihilation. Lots of talking heads seem to like that solution, whether there is a problem or not, whether destroying someone solves a problem or not.

So what is the solution? I don’t know. I just have an observation, a quote really.

“You are young yet, my friend,” replied my host, “but the time will arrive when you will learn to judge for yourself of what is going on in the world, without trusting to the gossip of others. Believe nothing you hear, and only one half that you see. — “The System of Dr. Tarr and Prof. Fether” by Edgar Allan Poe appeared in the November 1845 issue of “Graham’s Magazine” (from https://quoteinvestigator.com/2017/06/23/half-see/)

Everyone has their own agenda.  Everyone sees the wealth and the power of government. Most people’s eyes, especially when we are young, light up at the prospect of what they could do with all that power and wealth. Until we are older we don’t understand how little we all understand, how difficult it is to make the government do anything right. There is no expert who understands very much. Only God understands His Creation.

Job 12:12-13 New International Version (NIV)

¹² Is not wisdom found among the aged?
    Does not long life bring understanding?

¹³ “To God belong wisdom and power;
    counsel and understanding are his.

Therefore, as an “expert” I fear just one big insurmountable problem. Pride. If all us think we are experts, and we each busy ourselves by trying to fix each others lives, may God help us. Cause then we will be in really big trouble. We will tyrannize each other, blame each other for our problems, and make each other terribly miserable.

When we don’t know what else to do, perhaps we should pray for each other. At least then we won’t hurt each other so much.