text: our society is...?   our society is . . . .  undergoing such dramatic changes that for most of us the only pattern evident is total chaos.  values that stood up for thousands of years mean nothing.  culture that once seemed to evoke pictures of intelligence, compelling emotions and meaningfully poignant communication have been replaced by 'art' forms such as 'hip hop' and various apparently demonically-inspired forms of modern 'art' that seem to speak only to decay and irrationality.  and yet, there has been greater scientific, medical, and practical technological advances in the last two hundreds years than in all mankind's previous almost three million years of evolution.  while much has been lost, much has been gained.  slavery has disappeared 99.9% from the planet.  women are gaining a larger measure of respect and 'equality' that previous times never allowed.  one man with right on his side inspired a virtually peaceful revolution that granted his country freedom from a tyranical colonizer; another man, inspired by the first, led a movement for freedom and equality within our own feudalistic southern states and further across the nation.  mega-tyrannical oppressors and symbols like the warsaw pact and the berlin wall have fallen.  all is not perfect, but much has been gained.  our society is in transition and whenever i have doubts about its direction i read "i pencil" (see below).