The Welded Universe

Welders are the unsung heroes of our society. Whenever metal starts to fatigue or tear apart, the welder can put it back together again. Welded joints allow ships to go to sea, planes to fly, and automobiles to take us around town on our errands. To be a welder is a dangerous job. Welders work with high heat and under severe restraints such as under water or in space. However, welders have other tasks as well. One of the most important of these tasks is to keep the universe together so we can go on living. An example: You cut your finger and it bleeds. You place a band aid on the wound and wait. The welders go to work and soon only a scar remains where the rip in your skin occurred. You do nothing to prompt this other than to cover and protect the wound. If the wound is severe enough, the doctor must sew it together. Why? So the welder can do its work. Ideas can be welded together and often are. Let us take just one example. People from two major religions claim one country. Palestine is one example. Kosovo is another. Kashmir is a third. How can we resolve these problems? Most people recognize that in any peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians, there must be a weld between the to parties. Perhaps a one party state as the Palestinians want or a two party state as the Israelis want. If the Palestinians have just one state, they will be in the majority and hence able to run the state or have a major voice in how it is run. With two state, Israel will run its state, and the Palestinians will run theirs. To secure an agreement either way, both parties will have to compromise. A compromise means that the welder can do its job. In order for people to live together successfully, the welder must be free to do just that. Its job. The more successful the welder is, the better our society will be. Having said this, the reader can see that compromise is not a dirty word as some politcos would have it in today's toxic atmosphere. Indeed, it is arguably one of the most important concepts we possess to prevent war, genocide, and economic destruction. I suggest that we place a new department in every college in the United States. The Welding Department.