It’s amazing what people will eat and drink if it sounds good. But one has to wonder, if we stopped for a moment and considered the names of stuff that passes for food and beverage, would we still consume it? Ask yourself, why someone would drink Mountain Dew if they realized that the only way dew is yellow is if it’s really urine. Remember what Frank Zappa said—Watch out where the huskies go, and don’t you eat that yellow snow. The next time you see someone swigging a cold Mountain Dew, you might want to ask them how the dew got so yellow all the way up there on the mountain. I’m betting on the Abominable Snowman.

How about blueberry pancakes? Almost no nationally known brand has real blueberries in it. If they did, they would either have next to none, or if they did have a significant amount, they’d be horrendously expensive. If you’re whipping up blueberry pancakes from a mix, what you’re really eating are dried apple bits colored with food dye. But, if you never tasted a real blueberry in your life, and unless you’ve actually bought fresh blueberries you haven’t; you don’t have a clue what you’re eating. Sort of like the traitor in the Matrix who doesn’t know or care if his food is real, as long as he gets a lot of it.

Of course, with your pancakes, you have to have maple-flavored syrup, which is nothing but corn syrup with a little coloring and chemical flavoring. It’s a wonder you don’t need a HAZMAT license to eat breakfast.

There’s Apple Jacks, with no apples, chocolate bars with no cocoa, and cheese with no milk. In fact, what passes for cheese these days is just one ingredient away from being vinyl. Processed cheese food is made from milk protein concentrate (MPC) imported from China. Ever wonder how Kraft gets “8oz. of milk in every slice” of  cheese-like product? Well, the USDA says that MPCs are technically milk, even though all the milk has been taken out and nothing is left but a chemical protein-powder, so Kraft can make the claim because it puts the equivalent of 8oz. of milk in its near-plastic product.

Instead of credit card commercials asking “What’s in your wallet?” someone should run one asking “What’s in your mouth?”

William H. Boetcker wrote the Ten Cannots in 1916. Once again, as we struggle with economic challenges and obstacles that test our collective character, we can turn to the past for help. If we listen closely, we can hear the still-lingering whispers of wisdom, guidance from our forefathers.

The Ten Cannots

• You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.
• You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.
• You cannot help little men by tearing down big men.
• You cannot lift the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer.
• You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich.
• You cannot establish sound security on borrowed money.
• You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.
• You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than you earn.
• You cannot build character and courage by destroying men’s initiative and independence.
• And you cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they can and should do for themselves.

Listen to the voices that reach through the veil of ages. We can do a multitude of things to conquer the beasts of our time. But there remains things we cannot and should not do, regardless of the era.

Two possibilities exist: Either we are alone in the Universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying.  Arthur C. Clarke

I’m one of those people who don’t make New Year’s resolutions, or at least that’s what I tell everyone. And to some degree, it’s true. I don’t make weight-loss resolutions or vow to make all of my own clothes, but I do understand that when a new cycle begins the Wheel of Time is in some way reset, like a cosmic glitch, and in the depths of eternity we are given a chance to start again.

This year, as we begin again, I’m thinking about aliens. Yep, aliens, little green men, ET, aliens. Actually, I’m thinking about the lack of them and how terrifying the prospect of being alone is. While we indulge ourselves in Hollywood fantasies about benevolent and nefarious aliens alike, the fact remains there is no credible scientific evidence that there is life of any sort anywhere else but here, on the Earth. If this is the case and we are alone, it makes how we behave towards our planet and each other more meaningful than even our most venerated of prophets could imagine.

If we are alone, and this planet is the only one in all of Space and Time that can sustain life, then our individual and collective responsibilities are behemoth. Whether or not we believe in Intelligent Design or a random Big Bang, the result is the same: if we are alone, we are indeed special, each and every one of us is more unique than we can possibly fathom. We owe it to ourselves to cultivate our knowledge of ourselves and the Earth. If we assume we are alone, surely we would understand how valuable the life-giving and life-sustaining systems of the Earth are. We would look at other people and other beings that share this blessed place with us in a whole new light. Because if we are indeed alone in Creation, then we need each other to survive.

As the wheel turns, I’m going to try to look at the world as if we are alone, as if the Earth and her inhabitants are the only life anywhere. I think it might make a difference in my life. Just the thought gives me goose bumps.

Happy New Year.