This is a follow-up to my previous entry, Our Ignorance--Their License.  It is a revised response to a pair of comments that I received from Annonymous and HonestlyAbe.   If you've already read that entry there's no need to re-read it.    I hate generalizations, but this is one I use in my classroom. There are 3 kinds of people: those who make things happen; those who watch things happen; and those who say, "Duh, what just happened?" Americans, especially kids, are bombarded by sounds and images. I once spoke to Howard Gardner, a fairly famous neuro-psychologist from Harvard who said that if kids in the 21st century don't know who they are and where they fit into the scheme of things, they will spend most of their lives following the loudest sounds and the brightest images. I'm not sure being swayed by the loudest and brightest is age specific.  I see many parents, older kids WITH kids, who share the same tendency.  As a father and teacher I would hope to assist my charges in their quest to figure out what they are about. We and our children need roots and curious minds that keep us informed but not distracted.  If those roots are only emotion based, without an awareness of the physical, political, cultural realities that surround us, we're likely to be uprooted.    Curious, informed and moral citizens are crucial to the survival of our way of life.  They are even more crucial because our government is of, by, and for the people. Ours always has been (in theory, at least) a participatory process. We now have the the ability to access all kinds of information instantly; and though we elect people to filter through and make decisions based on it, they are often swayed by interest groups or political expediency. We have to monitor our government from an informed perspective not just an emotional one. There are so many important things that occupy our attention, not the least of which are family, nature, work, exercise, the arts, civics...and on and on (stuff for other entries). Our minds/brains are phenomenal and are capable of processing much more than we can imagine, but the commodity is time and the task is one of balancing and allocation. We can't know or do everything. However, we all need some basic interpretive skills coupled with reliable, even scholarly, information in regards to "What just happened?"   As always, I consider myself as much in need of my serendipitous sermons as anyone.    SUAS