One

The End

They say we should have seen it coming. They tell us it was obvious. They show the clear an d unmistakable signs of failure in explanations so simple a child can understand. They claim it was as plain as the nose on your face. They may be right, but ho often do you see the nose on your face without the help of a mirror? A few saw what was happening and tried to show a mirror to the rest of us. They were branded with names like "red" or "commie" or "America hater", forced out of the spotlight and their mirrors were broken and burned. Those who understood what was being shown were afraid to let on. To hide their enlightenment so many even joined the mobs, burning books and hurling accusations.

The truth is, most of us didn't see what was happening in the beginning. We didn't want to. Perhaps you've heard somewhere how to boil a frog. As the analogy goes: if you put a frog in boiling water it will jump out, but if you put a frog in cool water and slowly heat the water until boiling the frog will be cooked before it knows what is happening. How appetizing. What you have probably not been told is what happens to frogs who realize how hot the water is getting. If they jump out the chef just killed them and throws them back. The choice the frog is presented with is not between being death and survival. The choice is between boiling in ignorance or dying in pain. We were frogs in an ever hotter pot, lobsters in a bucket. We chose safety. We chose ignorance.

Or, at least most of us did. Some of us noticed the water was getting hot, we saw the mirrors. That's why I'm here. That is my story.