When I was a little girl, my mother would give me activity books for Christmas and my birthday. They were full of puzzles, mazes, coloring pages, fun facts and short stories. She knew how much I enjoyed doing them.
Recent events have brought to mind one of those stories I read decades ago. It was about lemmings. Lemmings are fuzzy, roly-poly rodents that live in subarctic regions.
The story was that when the critter colonies became overpopulated they would gather into a herd and rush together over a cliff, committing mass suicide. I looked the information up on Wikipedia and Wik says it isn't so. They may herd up, but they don't commit suicide.
I believe it could happen, though.
Maybe the lemmings didn't plan to commit suicide. Maybe, they didn't know they were headed for disaster. Maybe, they just got into the wrong crowd and it was too late to turn back.
I think a lot of us in this day and age listen to what leaders in federal and state government are telling us, instead of listening to our conscience and years of moral upbringing. Media are telling us what to think, instead of presenting facts and letting us think for ourselves.
Are we committing intellectual, economic, emotional and moral suicide by letting other entities control our thoughts and our lives?
New fads, new ideas, new inventions, new technologies, new laws are arriving every day. Do they fall in line with the values your mother taught you when she said, "Just because everyone else is jumping off the bridge, doesn't mean you have to."?
All change is not progress. When making decisions, think for yourself.
Don't be a lemming.
Dorothy is the author of two books—“Miles and Miracles” and “Getting It All Together “. You can purchase a book or make a comment by emailing her at dorothybutzknight@gmail.com