Tracks everwhere

Tracking aspects of life is everywhere in the world around us.  As an example, one of my daily routines is to follow a graph of the exchange rate between the U.S. dollar and the British pound.  The graph tracks the value of each as it rises and falls yielding the difference in value between them.  It is really helpful to see the track so that one can make predictions about the currencies' future paths.

Every night when I watch the news, the weather report contains the track of several aspects.  Maps show where the drought is in Texas and how severe it is.  The series of maps shown show the growth or decline of the drought area and the severity.  The report also tracks a comparison of today's weather features to other years in the past.  Today, for instance, is the 43rd day since the last rain, that is fourth in the all time record's list of days between rains.  Ten more days without rain and it will be number one on the all time record's list.

Tracking is just helpful to put things in perspective.  Historically, it's good to track events too.  The naysayers of the current president's political decisions usually don't use history to form their opinions.  If they did, they would pipe down a bit.  The detractors say the president is giving amnesty to thousands of immigrants unnecessarily.  Looking back just about 30 years shows a president of the opposite party granting official amnesty to about 5 million immigrants.  Detractors say that the Affordable Health Care act is a terrible burden forced on the American people.  Following the track back through time shows a number of public programs forced on people, not the least of which was the income tax.  The income tax dates back to Congress' passage of the bill in 1909 and states' subsequent ratification in 1913.  Yes sir, the American people passed the onerous income tax themselves and made it an amendment to the constitution.

People are short sighted, though.  That's called myopia and it's caused by a lack of knowledge of the past or the lack of willpower to look back in order to see tracks in the sand behind.  If they would just look at the tracks everywhere around them, people would be happier because they would be better informed .