"The man who trades freedom for security does not deserve nor will he ever receive either."
-Benjamin Franklin

I am a college student studying for a chemical engineering degree.  I believe in looking at everything with a certain degree of skepticism.  I have went through our nation's public education system and we knew it was a joke even then.  I served my country as a submariner even when it seems politically correct to ridicule and demean those who try to make a difference.  I never used to believe that those who are older than me knew more than me.  Now though, I see the silver lining.  Age does not make you wiser or more knowledgeable but it does mean you have seen more.  So I like to listen to older people talk because I know they have a lot to talk about.  I like to learn about history because in understanding our past I am able to more clearly see the present I live in.

People want to believe that they are a special and unique snowflake.  Yet most people are afraid that they are not a unique snowflake.  Especially today in our shrinking world; people tend to focus on the big picture.  The big picture is that we are all just a single grain of sand on the beach of life.  We are special though and we are a unique snowflake.  We are this because of our soul and our free will.

Free will is often a catchy buzzword that people use without really knowing what it is.  We are all born in servitude.  We are all born as slaves to a matrix that people often call reality.  As in the movie it is everything around us; it is everything that we can see and everything that we can not see.  It is the tie that binds a mother to her son.  It is the mother who was adopted that now fears she does not know how to raise her new child.  We often are ruled by our fears and our fears enslave us to this matrix.  This matrix does not negate our free will though, it merely form a pattern for us to employ or free will.  The pattern is knowledge.  Through complete understanding of our world one is able to excersize complete free will.  This is because only through complete understanding will one ever be able to truly understand their place in the world.  Only when you know where you are can you accurately effect where you are going.

There are two main forces in our world.  There are those who wish to live free and help others who wish to live free.  Then there are those who wish to control and rule others; they wish to use others to lift themselves higher.  It is easy to see the difference in the movies you watch, the t.v. shows you worship, and the songs you listen to.  They all forward a single part of the big picture that shows you either enslaved or free.  The natural response is to reject this idea but that is because I am saying saying it up front and without dilution.  I am telling you that what you watch, what you listen too, the work you go too, and the friends you hang around all define you as a person.  They are a reflection of who you are inside.  Yet that reflection is clouded and difficult to see at times.  The reflection is clouded by the messages the two main forces are sending you.  If you tell yourself that you are stupid and ugly enough times, you will begin to believe it.  If you tell yourself that you are smart and beautiful enough time you will begin to believe it.  Your mind is a wavelength and the biggest rule in our universe is that like attracts to like.  Picture the universe as a giant catalogue and that you are the user.  It is your job to pick what you want out of the catalogue.  All you need to do is believe that you will receive what you ordered and you will receive it.  I know many will think that I am crazy.  They look at all the bad that happens in the world and they say "I did not want that to happen".  To that I have two answers.  The main is that you are not the sole occupant of this universe.  There are an almost infinite number of other sentient people in the universe who all have their own thoughts and their own unique wavelengths.  The law of attraction is merely a force.  The more you think about something the stronger that force is.  The more precise you are in your thoughts? The less the universe has to move to accommodate you and the quicker it will happen.  Now I said there was another answer and this is just as simple.  It is that the universe does not care about not.  It does not care if you think "I do not want to be in a car wreck"  all it sees is that you are thinking about a car wreck and so one will be delivered to you if you feed that particular force with enough power.

I opened this blog with a quote from Benjamin Franklin about safety and security versus freedom because it is something that concerns me a great deal.  In times past people have traded safety and security for freedom and they are what the US has fought against in the past.  Russia and Germany both traded their freedoms for safety and security close to a century ago.  Europe started to try to trade their freedoms for safety and security too.  Yet all of these people have now realized the truth in Benjamin Franklin's words.  Safety and security all sound very nice when you are being the one protected.  Though sooner or later everyone starts to become the one that is protected against.  Then you wonder where did all your freedom's go?

"The road to hell is paved with good intentions."
-John Ray (1670)

People think this refers to people who mean well but fail to act.  People who see wrong but fail to stop it.  That is not the only mean in this quote though.  It also refers to people who mean well but seek to restrict the freedoms of others for whatever reason.  You can try to rationalize it all you want but in the end you are left with nothing but regrets.

It all starts with censorship.  Censorship always starts with good ideals.  It is never long before tyrants try to use censorship to silence anyone who thinks differently.  For instance, the Republicans right after 9/11 reacted negatively to anyone who criticized our government.  Or the Democrats now days who want to silence Talk Radio because they don't like how vocal their constituents are getting.  There is a councilwoman who wants to ban the word b itch.  I ask, what does she have against female dogs?