An incident at a grocery store the other day got me thinking about a philosophical question I had never before considered. I had gotten in a line that had recently closed and had begun to unload my groceries onto the checkout counter. Before I put very many of them down, the clerk alerted me to the fact that this line was closed and pointed to a sign stating as much. I subsequently put the groceries back into my cart and moved to another line.

While I was waiting in the new line, I started to wonder how I could know for sure that THIS line wasn't also closed. I didn't see a sign stating that it was closed but, then again, I didn't see that other sign, even though it was obviously there. So could I really be sure, based on sight alone, that there was no sign stating that this line was closed?

But this all begs some even more serious and frightening questions. When driving down the road, how can you ever know for sure there aren't any people or animals in your path that you are about to hit? How does the bomb squad, even after checking a building in response to a bomb threat, know for sure there is no bomb planted in it? How could you ever know for sure that there aren't any intruders lurking in your house? This list could go on and on, of course.

Have you ever failed to see an object that was right under your nose? We all have at one time or another. That just goes to show us that we cannot always trust our sight. They say "seeing is believing" and this is very true, but not seeing should never be a basis for not believing or having any assurance of the absence of anything.

Terry Mitchell

Terry Mitchell is a software engineer, freelance writer, blogger, and amateur political analyst from Hopewell, VA. He's been in the software development/engineering line of work for over 24 years.

He blogs and writes about various subjects such as current events, politics, cultural and social issues, health and well-being, personal finance, religion, technology, media issues, law, government, sports, humor, and trivia.

Through the BlogBurst network, his blog entries are often carried on the Website of the Houston Chronicle, one of the top newspapers in America. In addition, his columns and essays regularly appear on American Chronicle's network of 21 online magazines. They have also appeared online on American Daily, Media Monitors International, Opinion Editorials, The Washington Dispatch, Arrivenet, and hundreds of additional websites.

Terry never misses an opportunity to assail political correctness and take pot shots at the conventional foolishness. He's not a bandwagon jumper - he writes stuff that others should be writing, but are not. He thinks of himself as a kind of modern American philosopher. His blog offers commentary from a unique point of view that is not often found in mainstream media.

Terry would love to have his blog picked up and syndicated by a major news or web organization. He also plans to write a book based on his blog. But, for now, he mainly writes for free as a hobby and enjoys having his aritcles posted on as many websites, ezines, news letters, newspapers, and magazines as possible.