Greetings & Salutations

Greetings and Salutations from the great state of Missouri! By way of introduction, I will refer to myself as ‘Tom Sawyer’ for four (4) main reasons:

First, I grew up near the shores of the Mississippi River, albeit a hundred feet up on a bluff overlooking the river valley about 30 miles south of Saint Louis. I hope time and opportunity allows me to post numerous stories about the real life adventures I had as a young American growing up and coming of age in rural Missouri.

Second, I really like the story by Mark Twain. I read the book when I was in 6th grade. A year earlier I was assigned the leading role in a school play which was the first and last time of my academic career that I had the spotlight. If we really do get a few minutes of fame, I cannot help but feel I was somehow cheated. Like Tom Sawyer, I was also a ‘rough and tumble’ kid that seemed to be “born for trouble as the sparks fly upward”. Yes, I had much in common with the character from Mr. Clemens fictional story.

Third, I am a fan of the Canadian rock band RUSH. In some ways, I do see myself as a modern day warrior. It is primarily my sense of call to duty and call to ‘arms’ as an American to exercise my freedom of speech while I still can that leads me to participate in a blog. History, if nothing else, has shown us the battle of ideas proceed the battles on fields, in jungles and on the streets. It is my hope the great experiment in representational democracy known as ‘America’ and the rule of constitutional law will last one more generation for my sons to try to preserve. I have treated the 1st amendment with contempt and I am ashamed of that. I have become very lazy as an American with my rights and responsibilities but there is still daylight and I am going to discipline, train and exercise this right as often as I can.

Fourth, I live in a world of information. While I do try to live a transparent life, for the sake of my wife and children, I do wish to maintain a sense of privacy and anonymity. I do hope the people that read this can respect that.

It is perhaps a big ironical that I live in the “Show Me” state since I find the older I get, the more skeptical I become. I hope my skepticism is healthy to allow me the freedom to question what I know and what I believe but since my knowledge is fallible and limited and my faith shaky at best, I only desire the wisdom to bow to only that which I know to be real.

I hope you enjoy these posts. I do not know how often I will be able to post but I do hope to post at least weekly or as often as time permits.

TS