Among the headers of his posts at the top of the post page, mariner had a description of who he was, the reason for writing and an explanation of how three alter egos would influence his posts.  This description has been deleted several times so mariner stopped repairing it.

Nevertheless, the philosophical futurist Guru remains with us as does the skeptical Amos. The oft-frightened Chicken Little has passed away and is replaced by Nosey Mole, a reclusive alter ego who lives underground but pops up now and then to see what is happening. Mariner visited Nosey to get an understanding of his view versus that of Chicken Little:

“Welcome to the blog, Nosey. Have you settled in?”

“Yes, I have a fine set of tunnels under the root stems of your iris bed and under the Pecan tree” Nosey replied. “There are lots of grubs and the clay soil holds up well for the tunnels”.

Mariner asked what the difference was between Chicken Little and Nosey. “The main difference,” Nosey replied, “is that Chicken Little was an alarmist. Say ‘Boo’ and he would race back to his hen house. I, on the other hand, am a survivalist. For example, if I lived in the Northwest, I would be baked by the wildfires; in the South, my tunnels would become sewer lines; God forbid I should live in the Middle East or Ukraine – bombs aren’t good for tunnels. So I took this job in Iowa where nothing extreme happens.”

“What current issues do you worry about most?” mariner asked. Nosey said he ignores all the brouhaha about Trump and the democrats and further that the social issues will not be resolved under any circumstances. “What I worry about is me. What’s going to happen to discretionary funding (Social Security, Obama Care, Medicaid, support for retirees, Childcare, etc.)?”

Nosey continued, “I keep a close eye on my savings and budget, stay out of debt and make sure my insurance policies are in good shape. “Further,” he continued, “I’m not confident about the US economy because no one controls it. I want to see more tax constraints on corporations and venture capitalists.”

“How do you feel about the working class issues?” mariner asked. Nosey replied, “Right now, the government has the largest deficit in history and there aren’t enough natural resources to go around so the government won’t help – those folks better learn how to make tunnels.”¹

Mariner thanked Nosey for his honesty. Nosey quickly dropped back into his tunnel.

Indeed, Nosey is a survivalist. Like Chicken Little, he has a constant fear for which there seems to be no solution. His solution is ‘every person is on their own’. No doubt this alter ego occasionally may color mariner’s posts.

¹Note mariner’s recent theme of participating in community, family and supporting both with one’s own contribution. As Nosey suggests, this model may be the only way out.

Ancient Mariner