Solomon's Private File #269
These stories about Stephen and Solomon take place starting in
1950's. Stephen wrote about his life in letters to a penpal, and then
in a secure blog, in case he lost his memory again, in the master
computer in his school for gifted students, which he started attending
in 2016 in a new incarnation, until his death. Now his son Solomon is
attending the same school, and is writing in his own secure blog for
his future incarnations.
All characters are fictitious, even if some of them might have names
that belong to some actual people, or act like people we know.
Solomon is 28 in this story, in the Spring of 2054.
Solomon's Private File #269 "President And A Pipe Dream"
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I asked to meet with the U.S. President. After greetings, I said,
"Remember the initiative show on CNN?" He said, "I do. Well done!" I
said, "Thanks, but I have to disagree. It didn't accomplish anything
but help you a little to become President. Going to make me regret
that?" He was shocked. He said, "What do you mean?" I said, "Here's a
crystal of it for reference." He read it. I said, "Could have been a
good show, if anything had come of it. I was hoping for real
initiative. New ones. To lead the country to greatness. Not just a
caretaker government." He said, "But we're still great!" I said,
"Actually, no. In all things but individual murders, which is the
highest, other countries are better for good things. America still has
the potential to be greater than them all, but it seems, not the will.
Yes, it will cost money. A sacrifice, for sure. More, because there is
a severe shortage of the necessary expertise. My father told the
country how to do better, with incentives to create engineers, but your
party blocked all that. Now you see the result. Mediocrity is the new
norm, the new goal. Government just watches while America declines. Let
the private sector do it! They won't. They can't take the long term
risks that government can. Their shareholders won't let them. Private
companies can, but they're owned by rich er, kooks, and often fail in
spectacular ways, convincing the public that what could be done, is
impossible. Individual companies can't coordinate whole industries to
work for national goals. There is POWER in numbers, that only the
government can harness. If it has the drive and courage to."
I said, "The Federal Government was NEVER intended to be just a
caretaker, but a leader in all things good, for what America as a
NATION should do, and could become. We were great, and did great
things, not because we had to, but because we WANTED to, and were
willing to work to make it happen. Now? Nothing. The world needs a REAL
leader. Not a country that commands others, but who goes before them,
and leads by the great power of success and example. America can still
become that country. If it doesn't, another will, and that country may
have some of my help for that, when they work to earn it. What flag
will be on the first colony on the moon? What alphabet will be used for
the name on the first colony on Mars? Which country will be the first
to build a successful starship, and become what other worlds see of us?
That's too big for private enterprise. Other nations know that. Their
governments are doing a lot of that kind of work. This one doesn't
care."
I said, "Don't tell me it's too expensive. It will be much more
expensive for America to be dependent on others for the benefits those
projects will bring to the world. Don't tell me you would have to cut
other programs to support this. You know I can tell you how to do
things better, and with much less wasted money. My father could and
did. I can do more. Even my little children can. But we know who can't.
The Federal Government. Too many competing selfish interests, false
irrational beliefs, and a monetary policy that for an individual would
have him spending the rest of his life in prison. You know you have the
most intelligent, the most educated, the most willing and able to help,
people, IN THE ENTIRE GALAXY, right here on Earth. And you ignore us.
Is that smart? Is that what you think the people want? Is that really
what you want?"
He was in shock. I waited for him to recover. I said, "You aren't the
only one who's surprised. Most of my group are cheering loudly in my
head. Crying, too. We CARE!" He gulped, and said, "But you don't
interfere with societies and politics." I said, "True, but your
understanding of that is a little off. I didn't say anything about
politics or societies here. We do help governments a lot! Remember the
approvals? School protection? Drug interdiction, conservation? Election
help show? Welfare show? And the gun issues? Get the picture? For what
you would hire people to do like that, we can do better! If it won't
mess with political systems and societies, we just might do it, and you
don't have to pay us, or even give us any credit. But you do have to
want it. You have to ask! We won't build things, but we can sure help
that process along. We won't make your laws, but we can sure help you
to write them better. Actually, the average first grader could do some
of that just as well, or better. A lot of laws have unintended bad
consequences, because the people who write them just don't bother to
think of them. WE CAN THINK. And pretty well, actually, all the time.
We've done this before. The laws that China enacted to free Tibet, were
constantly corrected by my father as they worked on them, and they
actually liked that help. Would you let that great country be the only
one to have that freely offered help? Actually, it was a little more
than just offered, at first." Chuckles.
I said, "I've said enough for today. Here are some crystals of this.
You might want to be a little careful who you give them to. If some
Liberals get one, you could say goodbye to a second term." He said,
"You won't tell them?" I said, "Only other person to get a copy of
this, is your DOT head. Well, he deserves one, personally from me." He
said, "I can't argue with that." I said, "But don't bet against me not
saying very similar things to other people and countries in time. I
already have, with one country. No, I'm not going to tell you!" He had
to chuckle. I said, "The crystals will work for anybody. Would be
said, "I understand. It can't be kept from the public indefinitely." I
Interesting growl." Chuckles. We hugged. I shifted out.
With an appointment, I met with the Secretary of Transportation. I
said, "I had a meeting with the President. You were slightly mentioned.
He might recover from it." He grinned and said, "Prodded him with
initiative?" I said, "He might have felt it was a little more than a
prod. With a thousand pitchforks." Chuckles. I have him the crystal. He
read it, and said, "Wow!" He had some tears. He said, "Much more than I
could have hoped for!" I said, "But all that might go to another
country, first." He said, "I've been watching. Israel has caught the
space bug. That the one?" I said, "Smart! They needed something besides
nodded, and said, "Good. They've partnered with the Saudis and Japan."
I said, "I kind of, might have, er, partially mentioned something like
that to them." Grins.
He said, "Did you give them our tech?" I said, "Nope. Didn't need to.
In fact, I had to dial down some of their spying for them, when it was
noticed. I don't generally interfere with spies. The silent war, is
still a war, and so is politics for me. I only act in that area when
something is discovered, and my help is asked for." He nodded, and
said, "I can understand that, and you have to be fair." I said, "I do.
Beautiful frustration for everybody but me." He laughed.
I said, "You've done good work in the rail system." He said, "With
your help. Showing my party how it helps business, helped a lot. Your
figures were very useful in that. They had NO idea of the connection!"
I said, "Intelligence was part of the approvals, but not if they were
going to actually use it." He sighed, and said, "They didn't. In fact,
most of their real work is trying to get reelected." I nodded and said,
"Some start working on that even before they actually get elected the
first time. Campaigning is one of the biggest businesses in the
country, and has become so dirty, it's given mud slinging a new clean
image." Chuckles. He said, "So true. My party considers nice people
weaklings." I said, "They may never understand how wrong they are. I'm
nice. Am I weak? It takes more strength to not use that strength in a
bad way." He said, "Wise. But they don't want to be." I said, "I
wouldn't mind too much if that were shared with the public more." He
said, "I'll pass that along." I said, "When the time is right, I'm
going to ask the Israelis to offer to help the U.S., publicly, with
ramping up a new space program." He grinned and said, "Oh, that's bad!"
I said, "My people agree, and with even bigger grins." Chuckles. We
hugged with love.
I shifted to the office of the manager of a big oil refinery in New
Jersey. I said, "Please excuse the interruption but if you would like
to avoid some loud noises, there are other things you might want to be
doing." He said, "You have my full attention and cooperation. What do
we need to do immediately?" I showed him on a big wall diagram, "You're
doing pipe maintenance here. It's not as empty as they think." He said,
"Oh my God!" he grabbed his phone, and dialed. It wasn't answered. I
said, "Say what you want to that person when you raise your hand, and
I'll relay the conversation." He said, "Shut down all repairs in your
sector right now!" The supervisor said, "But we're almost finished! It
will set us back a week." Manager said, "Emergency! Solomon's here
about it. Shut it down!" He said, "Yes sir! Right away!" I said, "Relay
ended. I'm showing you what's happening." He swore. They weren't doing
it fast enough. Reluctant. All the workers there were informed. One
with a torch wanted to finish his last welding seam. It blew up in his
face, but I protected him with a 4th wall, and the area around the
pipe. He fainted. I said, "Nobody's hurt. Damage is very limited. You
know why I had to let it happen." He said, "Officially, I have to
you Solomon, for who you are, and what you do for us." I said, "You're
welcome." I shifted out.
Daren said, "Corps would have stopped it. You took the job for the
lesson." I said, "And he's going to make that one public for us. Has
to, to show he did what he could." He grinned, and said, "SSDD at
work!" I said, "And don't you forget it." Chuckles. And that's what he
did. I was asked to a short interview about it on CNN.
John said on CNN, to me, after describing the incident, "You saved
the people, but not the facility. Why?" I said, "So you think I
shouldn't have saved the people?" He said, "That's not what I meant.
You could have stopped the explosion." I said, "I did, a little, with
force shields. Made it a minor thing, to keep other people from being
hurt. If I had fully stopped the explosion then, it would have exploded
again when they resumed the work." He said, "You could have removed
what was in the pipe." I said, "Yes, I could have. But more would have
entered it, so my first explanation would still apply." He said, "But
you could have corrected the entire problem." I said, "Yes I could.
More, I could operate the entire plant correctly. Or just done all the
refining for them with my mind. In fact, I could do all the refining
for the whole world. How far do you want to go with this?" He said,
"I'm beginning to see what you mean. You'll help to warn, and save
lives, but you can't save us from all our mistakes, or we'll continue
to make them." I said, "That's very important. Don't learn from small
mistakes, you'll make bigger ones. Pretty soon, they can't be corrected
in a way that doesn't cause a disaster. I don't like disasters. Messy."
He said, "I'm glad you don't like disasters." I said, "God has set up
this system for us to learn to become better, to eventually become so
good and wise, we will be able join Him. The key part of that, is
LEARN. And the hard part. Talking just won't to it. We have to live it.
And hopefully survive it. What help I can give, must NOT interfere with
that. You all have choices in how you can live your lives. You can
choose your futures. You can choose to be wise or unwise. I can't
choose. I don't have that option. I do what I have to do, in serving
God, whether I like it or not, no matter how much it hurts me. I do my
best. It would be very helpful if all of you would do your best, too."
I signaled the end, and we were off the air.
the same thing all the time? Why say the same thing all the time? Why
John laughed. I said to him, "Want to help something along a little?"
He said, "Absolutely!" I said, "I want to give the space program, well,
yes, what space program? I want to give it a kick in the spacesuit
bottom. If a rumor got started that the current technology on Earth is
true?" I said, "I'm not saying that. I'm just saying that such a rumor
could start things rolling on a lot of useful things. But not from me.
Has to have no connection to me." He said, "But you would help in
that?" I said, "I'm not saying that, either. In fact, I'm real busy in
not saying a lot of things. I'm not even asking for the rumor. Would be
interesting, though. Oh, and none here but you and she who pokes me,
heard any of that." Galya said, "Oh, you wait till we get home!" I
said, "Oh! In that case, let's go!" I grinned at John, and we left.
Mom said, "He's going to do it." Galya said, "Yes. He has to." I
said, "And when it goes around enough, I'm going to be asked to do a
show about it." Mom said, "Then you can say some of the things you said
to the President." Galya said, "That's sneaky!" We just grinned.
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Grant
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