I’m 73, so I’m older than you, Robert. I started life from so far behind my peers that I had no peers.
Although I was a straight A student, I had to drop out of school early in order to feed myself.
I worked doing common labor–mixing mud for block layers; I did all the dirty workd in a noisy factory where the
typical laborer stayed for no more than 2 weeks; I pumped gasoline, I crawled under houses spraying
for termites with no protection against the lethal insecticides I was using. I enlisted in the Armed
Forces as a private in order to improve my lot in life. I went to Vietnam twice to help bring that war
to an end. I literally had to score at the top of nearly every test put in front of me before I could begin to
move up. I did and eventually I found a better life. I also earned 3 degrees along the way, and I paid for most
of it myself. I went on to earn a good living, taught at the university level, and retired–not in comfort–but
comfortable in the knowledge that I had not asked for a lot out of life except to try to understand it a little
better. To do that, I had to learn to be open to the views of others, to not accept lies and distortions on
their face, but to dig for facts and an understanding of what motivates others and where the truth most likely
exists. I arrived at an entirely different set of conclusions from you, Robert, about life and my place in it.

First, I learned to stop whining and to start doing. I knew that God had given me the gift of how to use my
head, not as a receptacle for opinions, but as the most important part of my being. I learned very early that I
would never become a puppet for anyone’s propaganda. By God, my brain was mine to do with as God had
given me the power to observe, to study and to understand. So my first lesson really was one of gratitude. I had
something to be grateful about, and while I failed in many other areas–I have tried to never abuse my gratitude
for the gift of clear thinking.

Robert, nobody ever asked you or me to “spread the wealth.” That is part of the propganda from the right. Those
of us with average incomes do not have much wealth to spread. I have looked into the facts, Robert, and here is
what I found: Fifty percent of Americans have no net wealth at all (assets minus debts). That is 155 million of us.
Indeed, the next 30 percent of the population has just 15 percent of the wealth, while the top 20 percent holds 85
percent of all the wealth. That is such a grossly skewed wealth curve that the top guy holds more than $55 billion
in wealth. Convert that to a stack of $100 dollar bills–laid flat–and it would reach an altitude of 33.5 miles. Think
about that curve and those numbers before you repeat the empty utterances from others about who has wealth,
who owes a debt to others, and who the whiners are and are not.

Like you, Robert, I have very little respect for Islam–and for many of the same reasons. But I also have very little
respect for all organized religions. For nearly 800 years the Catholic Church confiscated the property of others,
tried offenders for “heresy,” tortured some, imprisoned many, and burned far too many at the stake. And just to remind
you, Robert, heresy is the “sin” of not believing every bit of doctrine put forth by others. I hope you can begin to
understand why I distrust organized religions so intractably. My favorite thinker from the past is Galileo who was
himself tried and imprisoned for life by the church for his “outrageous” idea that the sun was at the center of our solar system,
and all the planets revolved around the sun. Galileo left us this simple reminder that surpasses in wisdom and in grandeur
every creed, every doctrine, and every sermon uttered by every cleric who ever lived: “I cannot believe that the same God
who gave us the power to think and to reason, intended us to forego their use.”

Robert, global warming is a conclusion that is supported by at least 2,500 scientists. While that conclusion could be wrong,
it is not a subject for debate. The critics of global warming are politicians, not scientists. Don’t be taken in by those who do
not even understand the concept, and who have no scientific credentials or thinking to bring to the discussion.

There are many kinds of addictions, Robert, and I believe that no one can use his or her addiction as an excuse for bad behavior.
The tragedy of addictions, however, is that the addict usually cannot help him/herself recover. That is where you and I as
grateful nonaddicts, or just as compassionate human beings can offer a bit of assistance. “There but for the grace of God, go I” is
more than just a saying. I have been recoverying from alcoholism for 27 years.

I certainly agree that none of us has a right to expect anything as a matter of entitlement–and that includes all those who inherit
wealth. Sharing wealth from the top down (not from the bottom up) makes a lot of sense in practical terms, in moral terms, and in
just doing the right thing to solve an abiding problem. I will be glad to debate this issue with you. I have given it a lot of thought and
I’ve conducted much research into it.

We also have a common interest about the world we leave behind. The best that most of us can hope to achieve is to say that we did
the best we could with what we had to work with. And if we are really lucky, we will have one friend who will say about us when it is all over:
“You did OK.”

http://www.tomwdorr.blogspot.com/

You might just be surprised! ;- )