Birthright

Knowledge is power. Lack of information, or the wrong information diminishes our real power as it increases our sense of helplessness and desperation, makes us angry until it seems our feelings are the only force we have to defend ourselves. This desperate anger is the fuel of mobs, it is the madness of violence as an imitation of control. It is disastrous to trust only our feelings untempered by reason and knowledge.

Long ago humanity chose intellect over instinct, to be responsible for our own lives and well-being, to make our own decisions and choices, right or wrong: We opted for adulthood. We chose to use thinking, logic, experiment, deduction to guide our way through a world of mysteries. 

But within every adult is still the intuitive, the impulsive, the impatient child. It is the balance of ‘adult’ and ‘child’ that makes us human beings. And that, right there, is our birthright.