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Preface

Years ago, men would go through great lengths to write long treatises in order to speak to their contemporaries - and probably more importantly, generations yet unknown. Paper couldn’t be bought at the local office supply store by the ream as we can today; it had to be made by dedicated people at great effort and expense. Even supposing these early authors got their writing supplies from people dedicated solely to making paper and ink, the long hours and days required to write out language dipping a quill every few letters, sharpening their writing implement every few pages, and trying to work by a flickering oil lamp – not to mention under political pressure to write the right thing even at pain of death – shows a dedication to their project I’ve always admired. I have read them voraciously, allowing some ancient mind to speak to me from ages past. My heroes, men such as Suetonius, Herodotus, Tacitus, Eusebius, Josephus, Homer, the Venerable Bede, St. Paul and countless others.

Now it occurs to me, I live in an age where I don’t even need paper. I can write on a computer in a program that formats my pages however I want, records my thoughts as fast as I can type, and alerts me if I forget myself and misspell a word, or God forbid, dangle a participle. I can research any subject for background information at the touch of a few mouse clicks on the internet rather than the months the ancients must have spent journeying to some far off library. Even better, I live in a society where my freedom to write is guaranteed no matter what the subject. I am the inheritor of a heritage 5500 years in the making, dating back to when they first started to develop writing by marking clay tablets with cuneiform to keep track of how many cows are in the barnyard as a hedge against famine.

Whole worlds to speak to with incredible ease, and so few do it. I wonder why, but then I remember up until now, neither did I. Life has enough of its own challenges just staying clothed and fed and keeping the car running that when time comes to do anything you want, you tend to do something that requires little effort or brings a special joy. There is gardening, computer games, television and movies, music, theater, reading, internet surfing, traveling and cooking. We have so many options available that speaking to the world and the world of the future rarely comes as a serious matter to think about. I also think people don’t truly appreciate how unique their situation is in the grand scheme of things.

I have been on this planet for nearly 46 years now. Somehow it doesn’t seem that long, but the gray creeping into my hair, my paunch, and the pain in my feet remind me that time has passed and it is not forever. I know people who have died a long time ago, and watched the children of my friends turn into adults and begin families of their own. I do not claim to be an authority on any subject, but I have been a good observer. I have had the privilege to travel to 43 countries on every continent of the globe, except Antarctica, and I have read, listened, talked to people of many cultures, religions and opinions and I have watched things that have happened around me.

It amazes me how fast things have changed in my life time alone. There have been new technologies, changes in attitude, and the politics of the world stage. With this in mind, I thought it was time that I write my observations down about what I have seen and what I am seeing now, and what sense I can make of it. Perhaps this book will go no farther than me, which would be fine, but it might speak to some historian centuries or millennia down the swift river of time and let them know, as the ancients before have told me in their books, that we were real people who were here for a time . They will know that we thought about things, and did things, and approached things from a unique point of view.

I call this book a Voice from the 21st Century, because that is when I am writing it. I have had the honor of living in two centuries, and even two millennia, and it has been an interesting time. I can and have observed decline and ascendancy around me. I have a wonderful family, and some of the best friends this world has to offer. I want to write what I see and have seen, but I will also be writing some history in it to explain how I think we got to certain points and conclusions.

Before I begin, I would like to thank my ancestors for life, my family for seeing to it that it was good and my friends for constantly confirming that we have meaning. Especially my grandfather Rev. P. Carl Mücke who was brilliant and gave me a love for learning, languages and art, my parents Frank and Elaine Bowling who read to me and encouraged learning musical instruments and instilled the basis of my faith, my friend Joseph Fecarotta with whom I discussed most of the subjects and used as a constant sounding board (all while he was trying to fix the code of some application on a web site at work), my friend Gilbert Wilson who constantly reminds me to not procrastinate (and to remember to refrigerate dairy foods), Dale Mayberry who teaches me that some things are constant in their importance, the American Founding Fathers for writing one heck of a constitution that has allowed me to live in such comparative freedom, and most of all to Jesus Christ who rescued me, gave me purpose, and best of all promised immortality of my spirit.