thinking, researching, going beyond the topline...

Perhaps it's time to talk about a subject near and dear to my heart - thinking. Odd thought, says you? Perhaps, but here's why.

Many of us spend a lot of time on this thing called the Internet. Some of us for fun, some based on a specific agenda, others to earn a living (like me!) and those who simply read and watch from the privacy of their homes.

There are a lot of sources and possibilities - way too many to count. You can Google, check out Wikipedia, look for groups formed around a particular issue, surf the blogosphere for points of view and even visit that great, modern amalgam of links to all things newsworthy, Alltop (thanks Guy K!); all these things can inform your opinion. But, therein is the crux - while they can inform your opinion, it's critical they don't create your opinion. To do that, you must think.

Sure, it's easy to hop aboard the popular opinion of the day and adopt it as your own. Can you speak about the opinion knowledgeably? Do you understand the underlying facts and issues behind that opinion? What are the pros and cons?

Recently I've jumped on what I hope will be an ever-faster moving train, the Pickens Plan. I listened to several people who said Pickens was missing the point, that other sources - solar, geo-thermal, hydrogen - need to be part of the equation. They are, one has to just look below the surface and pretty pictures of wind turbines. A compadre asked that I look at some of the underlying reasoning for why Pickens is pushing the plan - to gain further land rights, which will help him in an effort to create a water pipeline from the Texas panhandle into the Dallas/Ft. Worth area. As I'm sure water scarcity will, at some point in the future, create a lot of battles for water rights, I find this a bit disconcerting. Realistically, I knew in my heart this oil man hadn't suddenly found himself altruistic. However, as a firm believer in working toward the development and use of alternative, renewable power sources and applications, after consideration I still deem Pickens plan to be a viable one, and, more importantly, something which stands a chance at real grass roots support, and one has potential to get the American people unified in the goal to release us from the bonds of MidEast oil.

I simply attempt to illustrate, above, that there was thought behind my decision to join Pickens and his plan. As I grow older, I try to put careful thought behind all important decisions. The time for following the crowd is long past, at least for me. It is my hope that others might feel the same way.

There are many thoughtful, intelligent, creative, hard-working people in America. We deserve, based upon our contributions, better than what we're getting from a government run by self-serving corporations, particularly when so many of them are guided by that barrel of oil.

Think about it.