There actually was a time in my life where facts mattered. I remember growing up and being told not to speak about something or someone unless “You know the facts”. Fast forward ahead to the circa 2019 and you find facts are sprinkled into a story like salt on your food. We live in a world in which nothing can be trusted. The digital age has brought about many great changes but with everything that is given, something is sure to be lost. Video can be altered to a point it is almost indistinguishable from the real event. Google just announced a “Bot” that can emulate your voice or anyone else’s in such real detail, it is impossible to know you are talking to a machine much less the person in question. Add this together with a society that has such extreme sensitivity to any matter that doesn’t please them and you have a real communication problem.

Today, a fact only has to be predicated by the following statements: “I think”, “I feel” or “I want” .That is all you need for facts, because those are like holding the ace of spades in the game spades. Here is the breakdown of how this works today. I think = It is. Pogo once said “I think therefore I am” we will be rewriting that quote soon to say “I think therefore it is”. The amount of hair brain items that goes through a person’s head on a daily basis should be a red flag of caution for trusting what we think at any given moment.

I feel = It should be. One thing is for sure in this life, we learn from experience and most of that experience comes through mistakes. Feelings are like a bottle of nitro glycerine, very useful if you want to blow up something; handle with care at all times. I could write a book on the danger of a life driven by feelings alone. The number of marriages that have broken up by “feeling something for another person” should make us stop and search for facts at a desperate rate anytime we “feel” something”.

Finally, I want = you are required to meet my demands. This one I cannot believe is taking such a precedence in our society. We laugh at children because they live in a give me world from the time they are born. Can you really imagine giving a child everything they “wanted”. If you do, you will be such a bad parent and model for your kids, not to mention you will have a problem child in short order. Again, the fact that we “want” something usurps all rational in today’s world. Your desire or “want” automatically makes it a fact that is indisputable, at least in your eyes.

In closing there should be extreme caution used when utilizing the phrases “I think”, “I feel” or “I want”. Try spending a week listening to others and you will find a great deal of our worlds are now driven by these selfish statements. I will leave you with a quote from the old Dragnet series where Joe Friday would say “Just the facts Mam.