Dear Editor:
While singing with the Monticello men at our annual Memorial Day concert in the Rotunda last year, I was struck by one of the quotes etched there in huge letters: "Ideas Control the World." It does not say God controls or government controls or, for that matter, the devil controls the world.
During my 25 years as a non-denominational Christian minister, I became keenly aware that each individual has a unique way of perceiving the world, issues in the world, God, who's right and who's wrong. This should not be surprising since we each grow up having unique experiences. Even identical twins that start out with the very same genes grow more and more different genetically as they age due to their different experiences.
Our ideas and beliefs get established very young and are sometimes modified by personal experiences. What could possibly get us to change a belief? When our mother's back did not break after we stepped on a crack? Finding out that presents came from our parents could get us to change our belief that a man and a bunch of elves actually live at the North Pole and deliver toys to girls and boys.
History describes how people changed their belief that the sun revolved around the Earth. Now we all accept and believe instead that the Earth revolves around the sun. That change was due to certain individuals carefully observing what was going on in the night sky. Those early scientific discoveries challenged the status quo beliefs of the day promoted by the church. Eventually, church leaders and followers changed their beliefs.
I would like to offer a somewhat new idea: "The world we live in is between our ears." Each of us "lives in our own world." We agree to cooperate with those whose world seems more like ours and we "fight" with those worlds that seem different. Our own ideas control our own little world. It is good to remember that we were not born with these ideas. We all acquired them along the way.
When we "fight" each other, it is really ideas that fight ideas and ideas get our bodies to say things and do things even to the point of violence. I believe the Rotunda quote may be right on: "Ideas Control The World." How about you? See you Memorial Day.
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