Unveiling the Light

In Hollywood a man can shoot a web and swing down New York avenues or leap from tall buildings without getting scratched. In Hollywood bullets can curve in mid flight to go around objects. In Hollywood young geniuses save the world and good intentions always save the day. Watch a movie today and you know that the oil companies are evil; the government is corrupt but the young maverick coming up from nowhere has the answers and will save the day. Well, take heart America because Hollywood has taken over Washington D.C. and our problems are over.

Barak Obama recently chided McCain for a policy that proclaims, “We can drill our way out of the current problem.” He also criticized him for backing nuclear power without a complete solution having been achieved for nuclear waste and for proposing a tax cut on fuel as a help to consumers as too little to matter. Did you hear the thunderous silence that followed these statements? It is the silence of the alternatives he put forth. He had absolutely none!

If we can’t drill for oil or build nuclear plants, are we to start building solar panels on every square inch of American soil? Will that be faster or more practical? Perhaps we should all put windmills on the top of our houses? Then, at least on windy days, we could turn on our lights! Is that to much to ask of the people in charge? Give us some solutions people! If we can’t drill for oil because it will take too long and we can’t build nuclear because it’s not yet perfect, so what can we do? Do we go back to horses and buggies? What about the waste they produce? Do we begin producing methane gas from huge piles of horse manure in the center of New York City?

We can’t drill up to 12 miles off our shores but somehow it’s okay for other countries to do so 13 miles out or where their territory crosses ours such as off Cuba? It’s dangerous for U.S. countries to drill for oil there but okay for China, Cuba and Mexico to do so? Oh, a platform off our shores might cause an oil spill, so instead, let’s import oil in giant super oil tankers from enemies overseas and have them sale our pristine waters, right next to the garbage barges from liberal eastern cities! They won’t spill any oil and they are much safer, right? Sure they are … yeah, right.

Actually, it’s all okay because we are going to invent a new source of energy called allfornothinggogood. McCain said so because he would create thousands of Manhattan projects creating just such a miracle by offering the winner $300,000,000. I am sure you want your neighbor playing with these chemicals in his garage hoping to be the next J. Paul Getty. Oops, there goes the southern half of Magalia. Guess that new super battery just didn’t work out. I hate to break it to these Hollywood Moguls but the Manhattan project didn’t come out of nothing and was hardly a backyard project. Apple Computer may have started in a garage but it was based on finding new applications and uses from the work of NASA, IBM, and other giants. They thought outside the box, they did not invent something totally new.

We are not living in the movies. Good intentions won’t do it. We can’t swing across town on webs or leap tall buildings in a single bound and we can’t wish our way out of $4.50 a gallon gas. But there are solutions to the energy crisis. Its hard work and realistic goals set by grounded government officials depending on the private sector! Yes, we need to find alternatives and it will take billions of dollars of research and decades of work, much of which has already begun. It may be hydrogen cells; it may be an alternative fuel. It may include tidal action and it most definitely will not be corn ethanol which is the boondoggle Congress has set on the American people in two centuries.

It will probably be the following: Oil, which will remain a large portion of our energy supply for decades and which also, provides the basis for most products we use as plastic is an oil derivative. We need to drill, period! The fact is we hold more oil than Saudi Arabia. That we refuse to access it is pure insanity and national suicide. Coal will also be a part of the solution. Nobody has more coal than we do. Liquefied coal can be burned quite cleanly. It is more expensive than the raw product but quite competitive to oil. Nuclear is an absolute must. We invented nuclear and have allowed ourselves to fall far behind. Not only can nuclear power be used to provide power with zero emissions but it can be used to provide a cheap source of fresh water to coastal states. Power plants can generate electricity by day and process fresh water by night when electrical demand is low.

Solar and wind power are part of the mix but; the, oh so non Hollywood reality is that they will never be more than a minor part. The fact is that both are inefficient and unreliable. Windless or cloudy days mean unreliable power and modern society cannot be so dependent on nature for its needs. We are a scientific and machine driven society and we should realize that we need cheap sources of energy or our modern way of living and progress as a society is a thing of the past. Those that fly in private jets and are driven in private limos don’t tell you the truth that they want you to park your car and take up your bicycle but they have no intention of doing so themselves. Their houses remain at 68 degrees while they expect you to swelter in the heat, freeze in the cold, and reduce your standard of living so they can feel good about their life style.

We have been fed the biggest con of the century. We have been convinced to not seek the energy sources available and then told that the high prices for energy are to be expected in a world of scarce resources. We are told that it takes too long to go find the energy now but are given no alternatives other than higher prices and to do with less. The fact is that the elite are happy with higher prices because it puts “the masses” in our place and puts them in control where they feel they belong. They can now dictate to us how to live our lives and we are financially vulnerable because we allowed them to put us here.

The key questions in this election should be, will the candidate drill for oil? Will the candidate build refineries? Will the candidate build nuclear plants? Will the candidate provided incentives to industry to find alternative fuels? Only if they answer these four questions yes do they deserve our vote. If they don’t follow through they should be immediately impeached. If the judicial stands in the way, they should be immediately impeached. There is probably no more important decision in our lives. The fact is that democracy is dead without economic freedom and without energy there is no economy to speak about. It is not about being green and it is not about conservation. It is about having an economy that allows democracy to work. Energy is not an option. It is mother’s milk to our society.

What does this have to do with God? This is about justice and what is happening now is very unjust to a great many people, especially the poorest among us. Also, without our economy we will lose our freedom and without our freedom we will surely lose our ability to freely worship as we wish. I want to serve God, not some government elite.

Posted by Fr Steven Foppiano at 09:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Okay graduates, congratulations on your success! You’ve made it and have passed a major milestone in your life. High School or college is finally over. So what is your next move? Have you set yourself a goal yet? Have you decided what it is that you are going to do with your life? Have you considered the big questions? “Why am I here? What am I going to do with my life? What do I want to accomplish? How do I want to be remembered?”

Older adults are full of advice on what to do and how to do it. You, like most young people, will ignore most of this advice and make many of the same mistakes shared by previous generations. Few people are able to take advice to heart. We all think we are different and somehow immune to the problems others encountered. Those who do listen and try to avoid the same pitfalls others have experienced are blessed indeed, but perhaps it is only by making mistakes that we come to maturity. It is a passage towards humility which we must all take sooner or later and the sooner it is accomplished the better.

However, there is one bit of advice that you should all listen to and if I took a poll I am sure that 95% or more would agree with the one most important thing you should understand. It is the one thing your elders envy you for and the one reason we would like, perhaps, to change places with you. We older adults understand that being young is not easy. You are usually poor, have few assets, are going through continuous change in yourself and with those you depend on and you face many challenges. But you have one thing we all envy and that is potential. If there is one thing I wish you could understand is the potential you have at this time in your life.

Potential is the ability to accomplish goals and to remake yourself into something more than you are now. It is the ability to make a big difference, perhaps beginning now but mainly in the future. It is something that must be grasped as it exists and put to use for it become less and less potent with time. Potential lost now is gone forever and potential not utilized is soon lost. Potential is utilized when it is mixed with goals, work and determination. Together these ingredients will yield realization of becoming much more than you are now and of making a real contribution to the world.

You may feel that potential but may not understand how to put it to use. You have to have a worthwhile goal. That goal should be real and meaningful. “Making more money,” does not qualify! Not that money is bad but how will you use it? "Becoming famous," also does not qualify! What will you do with that fame? The world has plenty of rich and famous people who contribute little and perhaps cause the world to be worse that it would be. A worthy goal would always leave the world better than you found it. It should be integrated with the realization that you can not only be more than what you are today but that you are also part of something much larger than yourself. A life lived for one self is by nature, self destructive. A life lived for others can be beautiful and memorable.

This world needs young men and women of potential who see the beauty of life. It needs young people who do also see the corruption, moral decay, poverty and deceit so often found in life today and who refuse to accept it. The world needs warriors for the good life, for loving families, caring communities, and personal freedom that allows all to see and reach their potential as well. We need young men and women who are less worried about their own wealth and reputation and are more concerned with their own values, how they live out those values and how they add to the goodness of life in general.

In this high time in which you find yourself with new found freedom as well as face choices and an uncertain future, I hope and pray that you will take some quiet time to take stock of yourself and your potential. Instead of deciding now what position you want to hold someday, what type of house you want or what life style you can obtain, try deciding first what values you hold dear, what kind of person you want to be, how you want others to see you and what you want to contribute to the world in the way you live your life.

There will be many in this world who will try to beat down your ideals and tell you to “get real” but many of them will have already lost their potential. They will see your loss of values and standards of behavior as validation for their own poor behavior. Instead, why not stick to your ideals? You do not have to accept the corruption found in the world! Instead accept the good and fight the corruption. Dare to live your lives with high standards and values that make you an example for others to follow. You can be the generation that leads us to better times. You can be part of the great change that surely must come.

The world needs a caring generation that sees not just our problems but our capability as well. Your greatest potential is to be the catalyst that changes our path. We have had enough of the “me generation” that leaves so many lost and discouraged. We need a sense of community and a sense of the greater good. Your potential is to help bring about that change by adopting the positive outlook that can inspire others. Whatever you decide to do in the way of career, your greatest potential is not in what you do but in how you do it. It is not in what you accomplish but in who you are. Don’t sell yourself short. You only go through this life once. Make it count. Make yours a life of which both you and your descendants will be proud.

We will all face that last day and that last judgment far sooner than we care to contemplate. Before you know it your youth and your potential will slip away. Prepare now and be at peace with the life you will reflect on when that time comes. The only things worth earning in this life are intangibles. They cannot be carried, saved or hoarded. They can only be earned and once earned can never be lost. They begin with love and are built not only with good intentions but with good and honorable actions as well. These are the things that last forever and bind us with the one God who loves all.
Father Steven Foppiano

Posted by Fr Steven Foppiano at 09:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)