This is the beginning of a story that's forming inside my mind.  This is the first part.

The Traveler

The man patted down the sides of his lab coat and took a deep breath.  Clenching his eyes shut, he reached out to the door knob with his hand and slowly turned it.  Quietly pushing the door open, he took a step into the room, his eyes still closed.  When no sound was made, he reluctantly opened them.

Inside the room, rich with stained wood and old paintings, sat a rather large desk.  The desk covered a rather old green carpet, which many of the man's coworkers knew all too well from staring at it for long periods of time.  Before the desk sat two uncomfortable old wooden chairs, which were perhaps as much as 150 years old from most estimates.  There, many an employee had sat listening to the boss' tirades, or in some cases, being fired.

Much to the scientist's surprise, the man at the desk had not noticed his entrance.  He was enthralled by some sort of report on his desk.  The surface was scattered with paper and random electronics, but this one piece of paper held more interest than any other paper, computer, book, wood grain, or man within the room.

It took every ounce of courage the scientist could muster to make a sound announcing his existence.  Mr. Kipling raised his head without moving his eyes from the paper.

"Yes, Ms. Jones?"

Kipling thought it was his secretary at the door.  It was then that Dr. Alphin realized he hadn't knocked.  He cleared his throat to speak.

"Sorry to bother you, Mr. Kipling."

Kipling looked away from his paper, his brow creasing in disgust.

"Alphin.  Didn't they teach you knocking at those expensive universities you attended?  Or about making an appointment?  How dare you waltz in here like you own the place!"

"Sir, I-"

"Don't try to excuse yourself, Alphin.  What gives you the right to invade my personal work space like this?"

"Mr. Kipling-"

"Ms. Jones!  Ms. Jones, come in here at once."

"Sir, I think she's-"

"You'd better shut your mouth if you know what's good for you, Alphin.  It's not like you've been here for very long.  If you're wishing to seek opportunity elsewhere, I can definitely make that a necessity for you."

"Sir!"

"Keep talking, Doctor, and keep digging your own grave."

"Sir, if you would just stop for a moment!"

"Oh, you're definitely looking for other opportunities outside the company, aren't you?"

"PLEASE LISTEN TO ME! I'VE DONE IT!"

Dr. Alphin found himself breathing quickly.  His pulse was fast, and he could feel adrenaline coursing through his body.

"Done what, Alphin?"

"Sir, I've solved the last problem.  It's working now."

"Bullshit.  You did this?"

"Yes, sir."

"All by yourself?"

"Well, I had fifteen years of prior research to go off of, but yes, I solved the final block."

"Are you being serious, Doctor?"

"Quite, Mr. Kipling.  It works."

"Holy shit."  Kipling looked down at his desk.  The confusion on his face was quite evident.  He looked up.  "Really?"

"Yes, sir.  But there was something unexpected."

"Show me."

"Sir, you might want to know-"

"Show me right now, Dr. Alphin.  I need to see it."  Kipling stood up from his desk and briskly walked past Dr. Alphin and through the door.

Alphin whispered to himself, "It wasn't what we thought it would be..."

* * *

Kipling had left Dr. Alphin behind.  He had to see the mechanism at work, and he had no time to waste on slow walkers.

When Kipling entered the lab, he expected to see everyone fluttering about.  They did that whenever he came through the door.  If nothing else, if the mechanism was finally active after all these years, he would have expected them to be running around trying to record measurements and observations.

But none of this was happening.  All of the scientists within the lab were standing silently, facing the mechanism.

"Clear a path people!"  Kipling pushed people aside, trying to make his way through the crowd.  No one seemed to notice that the man all of them loathed was coming through.  On any other day, they would have scattered like cockroaches, but today they stood still.

Kipling was confused, to say the least.  He commanded a certain type of respect, and whatever was happening was undermining that authority.

As Kipling made it through the crowd, he noticed a man in front of the mechanism.

Emerging through the crowd, he came upon the most terrified man he'd ever seen.

Standing there, at the observation station, stood a man in loose off-white robes.  A sash of some sort separated his robes below the waist, and he stood on leather soles strapped to his feet.  His beard showed signs of graying, but enough brown remained to give him a slightly youthful appearance.  The look on his face was that of pure horror.  He seemed to feel as out of place as he looked.  He was screaming something in a language Kipling couldn't make out.

"Who is this man?" Kipling asked.  No one answered.  They all appeared to be in shock.

Turning to the man, he asked, "What is your name, and why are you dressed like that?"

The man responded with words Kipling could not understand.

"Speak English!  Who is your supervisor?"

"He won't understand you, sir," said Dr. Alphin from behind.  As Kipling turned, the scientist emerged through the crowd.

"And why is that Alphin?"

"Because, sir, he's not from here."

"That certainly seems to be the case!"

"No, sir, you don't understand.  He's not from here.  He's not from this time and place."

"What do you mean, Doctor?"

"Sir, this man came through the mechanism.  From sometime before Common Era, maybe 50BC."

"Dr. Alphin, this isn't a funny joke."

"It's no joke, sir.  It's real."

"Bullshit, Doctor.  I may not be as smart as the rest of you, but I at least know my theory.  Time travel will only be possible from the moment it's discovered and into the future.  We could never travel to the past because time travel wouldn't have existed, which is a paradox."

"Technically, you're right, Mr. Kipling."

"So why the charade, Alphin?"

"No charades, and no jokes, sir.  The man behind you comes to us from the past because we're not the first to open the gate, so to speak."

Kipling looked confused again.  "What?"

Alphin stood closer to his boss.  "Sir, as far as we can tell, time travel was invented more than two thousand years ago."

Kipling stood in silence as his face winced.  His eyes began to flutter.  Dr. Alphin moved forward, but wasn't quick enough to catch the boss as he fell.  The man slumped to the floor.  Despite the disgust most people had for him, a few people moved to pick him up.  Moments later, Kipling lay on a lab table, breathing deeply.

This year, Halloween fell on a Sunday.

To most places in the US that I'm familiar with, or know someone living in that area, this is not a problem.  In Utah, however, this is a serious issue for the many Mormon faithful who live here, and an equally frustrating issue for the rest of the population that disagrees (many Mormons included).

Some of the people connected to my personal Facebook account have seen me holding a disagreement with those who find it perfectly acceptable to change the day that a holiday falls on for religious reasons.  Some will argue that it's cultural and not religious, to which I would point out that in a heavily concentrated are of people of like faith, culture IS religion, and Utah is a gleaming example of that fact.

There are many people in my are a who disagree with me.  But who are they to decide how and when I celebrate a holiday?  Well, they'll say that they are, since part of that holiday involves visiting their home for candy.  I'm fine with that.  Don't decorate your house.  Turn off your porch light.  Hold true to your beliefs, however irrational and unfounded they seem to be to the rest of us.  Next year, when I decide to observe Halloween on October 29, 2011 - a Saturday - you would do well to not judge ME for observing the holiday as I see fit.  Once you can show me that such an act is accepted by your own standards, I will accept your standards when Halloween falls on a Sunday (Sabbath), Monday (Family Home Evening), Tuesday (Young Men), or any other day where there happens to be a conflict that means nothing to me.

Thank you.

I doubt very many people have heard of this, but do you know that Facebook gets to decide if you're friends with someone or not?  You might be thinking to yourself, "what?  I pick the people I'm friends with on Facebook."

Well, it's not quite that simple.

Today, while browsing Facebook, I saw someone I knew from a long time ago.  I hit the familiar "Add as Friend" button.  I was immediately given the following screen.

So, wondering why in the world I couldn't add someone I've known for some time, who actually knows five people in common, I clicked on the Help Center link.

Apparently, Facebook gets to decide who your friend are and are not because other people don't have the time to check their friend requests and hit "YES."

I've seen it happen many times.  There was a woman I went to high school with, who either didn't remember me or didn't think I was worthy of being her friend, despite 42 other people from high school being mutual friends.  She would never click yes.  I'd see the "Awaiting Friend Confirmation" on her page for weeks, and a month or two later (after giving up), I'd check again to see that she must have ignored the request at some point, because I could request the connection again.

Or, I've seen people who rarely ever get on Facebook.  There's a guy I'm waiting back on right now, someone I knew as a kid, and he's been "awaiting" for months.  His profile is never updated, so I can only assume he never logs on.  Who knows how long it will be before he responds.

And I've also had people who, for whatever reason, just click no or ignore.  I had one of those a couple weeks ago, but only because he didn't know me by my real name, he only knew me by an online pseudonym.  The second time I sent the request, I had to mention who I was and how he knew me.  My fault, mostly, as I should have done that to begin with.

However, when you add up all these scenarios, and when they happen in a compressed amount of time (a year or less, I'm guessing, because Facebook doesn't really tell you), apparently Facebook naturally assumes you're a horndog clicking on girls' profiles, or someone with a social complex where you click on people you don't know to see if you might actually know them.  In the end, Facebook gets to decide that you can or cannot click on "Add as Friend."

What I don't understand is why Facebook doesn't think that the person receiving the request is smart enough to take a moment to see if they actually know someone.  Or, if the software is set up to see failed or pending friend requests, why can't it compute the fact that mutual friends might mean something?  If I'm clicking on random people in faraway cities, sure, limit me.  If I'm clicking on someone with mutual friends in cities that correspond to most of the people on my friends list, why would you limit me?  I click on more than 100 people in a day, cut me off (please).  If I click on someone once or twice a month, cut me some slack already.

Oh well.  I guess I'll have to wait for Facebook to be my friend again, so I can send requests to others.

I've thought a lot about politics lately.  It's not my usual blog topic, and when I do talk about politics it's usually about Utah Republicans and the whimsical reality they seem to live in.  In thinking about politics, in Utah and around the country, I've come to a conclusion: Americans absolutely need to have enemies in order to live.

I'm not making a statement about Republicans, Democrats, or otherwise.  I'm talking about almost everyone - every kid, every adult, every hard worker, every welfare recipient, every politician, and certainly every talk news personality.  We simply cannot be content with anything at any time.  Once one enemy is vanquished, we move on to the next.  With every defeat, an enemy becomes more of a threat.

No, I am not talking about foreign counties hell bent on destroying the USA.  I'm not talking about religious extremists who care for no one but themselves.  I'm not talking about people looking to overthrow some government.  I'm not even talking about the oppressed living in their own hell simply because they come from a different clan, tribe, family, or ethnicity.  These things are all an image of what I'm talking about, a residual effect of the problem, as I see it.  No, the problem isn't quite so easy to distinguish.  You see, the enemy to each and every human being is every other human being.

We are not content with coexisting anymore.  Sure, we have family and friends, strangers even, who we live near and share the same cities, streets, and resources.  But there are the others - the people we don't want to share our existence with.  For one person, that could be someone of Hispanic origins.  For others, it's anyone of color.  For another person, it could be someone of a different religion.  It could be someone dressed in the remnants of long-worn clothing.  It could be someone driving a Jaguar while wearing thousands of dollars worth of clothing and jewelry.  It could be anyone.  The problem is, there's always SOMEONE.

Even for the most accepting of people, there's always a type of person they cannot accept.  There's always someone else to blame.  There's always an enemy to combat with.  There's always someone who is deserving of distaste, disagreement, and for some, hate.

Personally, I'm sick of it.  I'm sick of people hating someone they don't agree with simply because of their ideology, religion, political affiliation, color, or origin.  I don't even understand why someone needs to hate someone here illegally.  Or someone who wants you destroyed.  When you hate something or someone so much for so long, you start to hate everything and everyone.  If you manage to see that which you hate changed, removed, or vanquished, then you move on to something else to hate.  Hate begets more hate.  And many people of this world, perhaps a majority, even the most well-intended person you know, can fall to into a cycle where they thrive on hating something.

Just let it go!

The solution is simple.  Get over it.  Get over the fact that there's someone different from you.  The reality is, everyone is different.  You can have someone almost entirely similar to you in every way.  Guess what?  They're still different.  There is still something in them that is different than you.  Are you going to hate them for it?  Is it worth hating the most similar person near you, simply because they don't mind that the grass grows long?  Is someone liking another team or school so bad that you hate them so much to beat their face in?  Does someone who identifies with the Democratic party deserve punching, kicking, stabbing, or killing?  I'm sure most people I know would not take such extremes, but their voice would seem to contradict them.

Today, I read through an article about President Obama giving a speech to kids in school, about school - which he has done in the past, as well.  And like last time, some people are acting as if the freaking Antichrist is coming to disembowel their children.  If you read last year's speech, you literally won't find anything that would make you think he was trying to steal your child's mind away, though I know someone who hates Obama so much WOULD find something to stretch into a case of some serial killer looking to rape your entire family.  Why can't you just let it go?  Do you honestly think Obama would use the opportunity to discuss health care, small business incentives, or some other hot topic?  Any politician would be a fool to do so.  He's going to tell kids to stay in school, do their best, and excel in their education.  I'm missing the part where he's telling them to become anything other than good students.  Why does someone have to hate another so much that they treat them like complete shit?

I didn't like Bill Clinton.  I didn't like George W. Bush.  I didn't mind George HW Bush too much.  I like Barak Obama.  I voted for Ross Perot.  WHO CARES?  I don't hate any of them, and I don't love any of them to the point of lunacy.  And yet, merely saying who I did or did not like will cause someone to find some little piece of hate for me for doing so.  I can't win with anyone, because everyone seems to have their enemy.

Hell, even I have my enemies.

But why do we become so agitated by their very existence?

If someone is going to hurt or kill you, or wants you and your way of life to be destroyed - do whatever you can to prevent or thwart it.  Do you have to then mutilate them while they're down?  Or can you just move on with your life?

Someone has different views - do you need to cut their heads off for not being you?  Would you want someone else to decapitate YOU while you were down, simply because they disagreed with you?

Do you really think I'm exaggerating all this?

Americans, like everyone else in this world, need enemies.  They need them because they need to hate something.  It can be little, or it can be big, but it must be hated.

But here's something to think about: not everyone holds hate inside them.  You do not have to be one who hates simply because your mind requires something to hate.  Are you able to be one of those people?

If you've ever seen the Wizard of Oz, you might remember when the Great and Powerful Oz tells Dorothy and her companions to ignore the man behind the curtain.

Note  that the video will ask you to go directly to YouTube for viewing.

This scene is curious to me, because the man behind the curtain, as you know, is the man running the special effects machine that creates the Great and Powerful Oz.  In reality, the Great and Powerful Wizard of Oz is merely a man standing behind a curtain.  Luckily for Dorothy and her friends, the Wizard of Oz really isn't a bad man, just a "very bad wizard."

In our world, there are some really good wizards, or more specifically, people very good at playing the "man behind the curtain."

Today, while pondering my next writing adventure, I came to think about my experiences with religion.  I don't write about those experiences all too often, frankly because I don't think about them all the time.  Today was different.

Earlier, while in deep thought thinking about characters and stories, I played out a scene in my head where a man was approached by a member of a predominate religion in his geographic location, asked if he'd ever considered joining that dominant religion.  Like in my own life, the character in my thought HAD been a member of the religion, but had left it on his own search for truth.  The scene made me think about how things happened in my own life.

When some people discover I left the LDS religion, one of the first questions they ask is, "what caused you to leave?"

That question is difficult for me to answer.  There are so many reasons why I left the Mormon church.  Some of them are closely related to why I joined in the first place.  Other reasons are based on logical reasoning.  And a few reasons, quite honestly, are because I actually read what I was being asked to read and ponder on.

I was a gospel doctrine teacher for the LDS church in my ward, or congregation.  Basically, I was a Sunday school teacher.  I taught the young adults from 12 up until they turned 18, and I did so for close to two years.  But in the LDS church, you teach the Old Testament one year, the New Testament the next, and the Book of Mormon and related works the third, starting over again after that.  The lessons are prepared by the church itself and laid out in a manual, created some time in advance for that year.

The LDS church expressly tells its teachers to stick to quoting church leadership from the past 30 years - no earlier.  They also tell you to follow the lesson material closely - no deviation.

My first year of teaching, I taught the Book of Mormon year.  I'd been put into that teaching position (or calling, within the church), in the middle of the year.  I missed the Book of Mormon itself, and was teaching the Doctrines and Covenants, a collection of religious cannon chronicling the days of the church's founder, Joseph Smith - in many ways, intended to be the modern-day word of God on Earth.  Therefore, it is not only written in a religious tone, it is considered some of the most revealing and reverent works within the LDS church.

I taught the material through the end of the year, and moved on to the Old Testament.  I taught it from an LDS-viewpoint, which meant a lot of scripture from the Bible was overlooked in favor of the lesson material and each week's specific lecture topic.

But I started reading between specific scripture quotes.  I read from the recommended passage to the next, skipping nothing.  And gaining everything.

Somewhere, between each lesson's bullet points, I started piecing together a different view of the Old Testament than what the LDS church provides to it's members.  Sometimes, the points made in a lesson actually had little to do with the quoted scripture.  If a passage mentioned something like the "Rod from the stem of Jesse," the church automatically placed Joseph Smith at the end of that Rod, with Jesus somewhere in between.  To most other religions, the "Rod from the stem of Jesse" refers specifically to Jesus only.  Naturally, when a church tells you that its founder descends from Jesus, you want to believe it.  The problem is, the church tell you what is right.  There is no other interpretation.  Anyone who disagrees is wrong.  The man behind the curtain told you to ignore the man behind the curtain, and you want to listen.

I could spend a long time giving you examples of scriptures quoted with different meanings than intended, lessons which omitted HUGE topics (look up Nephilim from WITHIN the LDS church, and you'll find that Joseph Smith talked about them, but since he lived more than 30 years ago, cannot be quoted or taught within the very church he founded), discourses given by old LDS prophets that differ from more modern LDS prophets, and so much more.  A believer in the man behind the curtain will tell you that times have changed, or that we know more now.  That same person could stand up in church a week later and tell you that God is firm and wise (and doesn't change his mind - he just changes the rules).

Living within this system, there no way you can be wrong.

And I came to feel the church was wrong.  It's a good organization.  They help a lot of people, and bring so many people hope when there might not be any otherwise.  But the price of bringing the best parts of the LDS church into your life come at the cost of being told what to believe, even when your eyes see otherwise.  You see the man behind the curtain, but you have to look the other way when he uses his booming voice and special effects to tell you to pay him no mind.

Unfortunately, I stuck it out.  I stayed a member of the church.  I looked the other way.  I rationalized away what I'd seen with what I'd been told.  It took me years and other circumstances to finally free myself and pull open that curtain to find the "very good at what he does" wizard behind it.

The character in my mind has the insight to know better, and lives within a society where is he is the outsider.  But he is an outsider with intimate knowledge of the inside.  Those around him do not know this - they merely see someone who does not believe.  They don't see the man as someone who actually knows.  And the only reason they can't see the true man is because they're told that they have the answers when my character does not.  They have been deceived by their own man, behind his own curtain, running his own special effects machine.

In work of writing, such a character has unknown power over those around him.  In some way, he also becomes a wizard of sorts.  Unlike those around him, though, he is a man running his machine with the curtain OPEN.