Sara Peterson - The Lone Star Speaks: Untold Texas Stories: About The JFK Assassination

There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isnt true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true.
Soren Kierkegaard

I n ancient times, marvelous sorcerers were nothing short of amazing, at least if you asked the poor gullible common folk. Such magicians caused fierce storms, accurately predicted rain, walked on hot coals, and summoned long dead spirits to commune with the living.

Science has taught the modern world that these tricksters had no more magical powers than anyone else had.

What they didhave was knowledge not available to most people. They knew how to use balms and herbs, their so-called magic potions.

They were aware of how birds and animals behave before the weather changes. They understood how the bereaved feel after losing a loved one, and how desperately they will grasp any hope of an earthly reunion. In other words, magicians had inside information.

We 21st century sophisticates osmugly tell ourselves that we are now too intelligent, too well-educated, to be drawn in by magic. Magicians exist only in Las Vegas, and their secrets have been exposed to national audiences via television. What fools these mortals be!

But real magicians are at work every day, bewildering us just as easily as Merlin did King Arthur. They convince us there is an over-abundance of wheat, that all the homeless are minorities, that all drug addicts are from poverty-stricken areas. The hand is quicker than the eye, but the mouth is quicker than either. Promises of lower taxes flow sweetly from smiling lips while the old sleight-of-hand trick pilfers our coffers.

Yes, indeed. Just as in the days of old, we still have magicians and sorcerers.