Wallace G. Smith | Page 47 | Tomorrow's World

Wallace G. Smith

2012: The Hype and the Truth



As my wife and I walked into the local cinema, before us stood one of the largest movie advertisement displays I've ever seen.  It depicted a coastal city being completely ripped apart by unprecedented seismic activity—tossing vast swaths of the city into the sky and dumping entire neighborhoods into a hungry ocean.  It was a scene of utter devastation that clearly would have taken the lives of hundreds of thousands of people.  And it was a fitting advertisement for the movie 2012, the new End-Of-The-World epic written and directed by Roland Emmerich, coming out this November.

The economy and the unknown



The world is beginning to wise up and to realize that the future is not as predictable as some had portrayed it to be – particularly in the area of finances and national economies. When will things turn around?  When will investors regain confidence?  When will the firings, layoffs, and downsizing stop?  Or more personally, when will my family begin to feel like we don't have to worry anymore about our future?

The answer from the experts is beginning to be a clear, definite, unequivocal, "We have no idea."

Dear Abby strikes out



While the syndicated "Dear Abby" advice column in many newspapers across the U.S. has been celebrated for decades for its wit and "common sense," in the column I read the other day it was clear that "Abby" had struck out. The individual writing to "Abby" was a 16-year-old, struggling with seemingly overwhelming homosexual feelings.  Struggling to deal with those feelings and failing to change them, the teen asks "Abby" for advice on how to "come out" and make his or her homosexuality public, expressing concern about how family and friends will react. "Abby's" advice?  Abysmal.  Let's take a look.

If only more Americans still thought this way



An item caught my eye in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch's front page on December 5th.  It was an article on Iraqis and Afghans who have recently moved to the United States.  While some have faced hardship here, they love their adopted country.  (For all America's faults – and perhaps because of some of them – it is still a country that many dream of coming to.)

The View at 30,000 Feet



The business of living life is full of many, many details. There are project reports to write, looming deadlines to meet, and a coffee spill on your desk that demands your attention. There are school forms to fill out and permission slips to sign while finishing your children's lunches as you see their school bus pull around the corner. Our eyeglass prescriptions need to be updated, our garbage needs to be taken out, and our dog needs to be taken to the vet. Details, details, details.

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