You won't hear me lecturing about the "appearances of evil" as I rather like to think of it as an art form.
However, I do strongly hold one traditional belief. You can't know where you're going until you know where you've been. And this begs the eternal question. In the words of Devo "How did I get here?"

The quality that gives us the gall to call ourselves intelligent is our supposed ability to remember, and hopefully appreciate, the past because it provides us with a sense of identity and helps us reason what our next move should be. In elementary terms, would who/where you are now (Point B), matter at all if you did not know you used to be at Point A? And if you didn't know about Point A & B, would you care that there is a Point C down the road?

A good example of what I'm talking about can be seen in Americas poor. Poverty, crime and lack of education are evil sisters joined at the hip. For decades American leaders have been saying that the key to pulling people out of poverty is education. I agree. But there's more to education than college. I venture to say there are a few million MIT graduates who lead pointless, depressing lives.

Education used to have other components besides how to earn a buck and become famous. We bragged about the bravery of our forefathers, recognizing that religious leaders were among them. Ministers and Priests and Reverends used to be sought after professions. I don't have to tell you why they aren't widely respected jobs now. Our motivation behind good deeds was more because of our love for God and less about our desire to be recognized. We used to make decisions after hours of prayer and consultation with spiritual mentors. And nobody was ashamed to say "God" in his political campaign.

One of my nieces told me a few years ago that her junior high was trying to prohibit her from wearing a cross necklace because some students find it offensive. Who are these people? I've never met them. And since when do we let the smaller number of people win in a democratic country?

Winston Churchill said " However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results." Perhaps it's time for America to examine the pitfalls and benefits of leaving behind our original idea of happiness: Freedom of religion. This term applied to those who do want to pray in school as well as those who don't.

Is it possible that we have forgotten who we are and where we came from? Or perhaps we know it all too well and are ashamed. But are we better for this change, in these days when all the young people who witnessed 9/11 on live TV are demanding a deeper meaning behind our existence?

I was lucky that a friend in grade school filled my head with nightmares about Jesus sending me to hell. It prompted me, to ask my mother who Jesus is. If I didn't have that conversation with my mother, I'm sure I would've meandered through life, getting angrier every birthday that didn't draw me closer to riches and fame. As it is, I screwed up as often, but at least knew there is a God, much more intelligent than I who loves me endlessly. This bit of information is unarguably the most important thing I ever learned. It is the basis for the creation of our nation, and very possibly, it's the key to our future.

How I wish it were required knowledge for every university graduate.