Ron Yengich, a distinguished local attorney, spoke to the general meeting of Humanists of Utah on September 11, 1997. There were 88 people present at the meeting, a new attendance record for a Humanists of Utah event. Ron's remarks were very well received and a lively discussion ensued after the formal presentation. Here is a summary of his remarks:

According to Yengich, the major problem in our society today is blind adherence to religious and secular authority because we have lost the ability to think for ourselves.

Galileo Galilei, who did his own thinking, was prostrate before the Inquisition as René Descartes was penning his most famous phrase. Other thinkers were tortured and killed for the crime of challenging ecclesiastical authority--for doing their own thinking.

"Our sense of thinking about ourselves establishing our own reality, is becoming a lost concept," said Yengich. "You can't love other people until you have some understanding of yourself." Jefferson, Madison, Adams and Paine would be astounded by today's society. These leaders, who established the great American experiment, would be aghast that we allow others to do our thinking for us. Our opinions and attitudes are all set by television, newspapers, the government and the Internet. We have become, "We the Sheep."

Our government is overworked and understaffed. We expect government employees to do everything with no budget. Our political parties are dependent on big money--we as individuals have no influence on politics because the very wealthy have locked us out. We have sold out to special interests. The main reason we have given up our birthright is that we have lost the ability to think for ourselves. Thomas Paine could not and would not live in our society. He would not do what it takes to influence a Senator and he would never appear on Oprah, so Common Sense would never sell.

We label people, ideas and groups. This limits our ability to interact with ideas or people who have different labels than our own. We have lost the ability to compromise. We are all responsible for the ills of society because we don't think for ourselves. We let the media tell what to thing and what opinions to have. They tell us what is right and what is wrong.

We no longer even have the desire to compromise. "If Orrin Hatch, Jesse Helms, Joe Biden, Dick Gephart, and Newt Gingrich were at the Constitutional Convention, we would still be acting under the Articles of Confederation."

Anything that is not an all out victory is considered a weakness. Compassion is considered a weakness and nearly everything these days is described as a war metaphor: the War on Drugs, the War on Crime, even sporting events are billed as wars and battles. Even a miniscule amount of thinking will reveal that sporting events are not wars, they are games.

We never take responsibility for anything. We blame lawyers, doctors, liberals, humanists, or welfare mothers for all of society's ills. The last thing any of us is willing to do is acknowledge blame if something goes wrong. We operate on fads, catch words and jingles because we refuse to think for ourselves and then blame someone else if something goes awry. "We are more concerned about what others think about us than what we think about ourselves. This has led to the loss of the simple pleasure of good humor."

--Wayne Wilson