A great majority afraid of the dark, afraid of the future, afraid of the past, afraid of the present, afraid of themselves and shadows of themselves, it’s Monday Mail.

Countdown

If you live in Georgia and have not yet voted early in the July 31 election, you have two more weeks.

Next weekend will be the last Saturday you can vote 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Columbus Public Library, 3000 Macon Road.

Don't forget your ID.

Ray

Today's opening is from "The Martian Chronicles" by Ray Bradbury, an excerpt referring to the book-burning and censorship upon which his more famous tome "Fahrenheit 451" focused. The entire quote describing the fear that sparks such reactionary impulses is this:

"They began by controlling books of cartoons and then detective books and, of course, films, one way or another, one group or another, political bias, religious prejudice, union pressure; there was always a minority afraid of something, and a great majority afraid of the dark, afraid of the future, afraid of the past, afraid of the present, afraid of themselves and shadows of themselves."

Steve

Bradbury died June 5, prompting a column on my cherished paperback copy of "The Martian Chronicles," which I have lost. That could mean my wife donated it to the Friends of Libraries for their used-book store, just like she did my copy of Jean Paul Sartre's "No Exit," which I went to the used-book store and bought back. You need a book that illustrates the concept of existentialism, whether you know what it means or not.

The column on Bradbury prompted this message from a reader in San Antonio, Texas:

Tim:

Steve here!

Reading today's article (June 10, 2912) about your discovering your personally signed copy of Bradbury's "Martian Chronicles." Your words for the late great science-fiction author are very moving and fitting. Hold on to your copy as it is almost certainly priceless. I am currently enjoying (for the sixth or seventh time ... I forget) "Fahrenheit 451" in graphic novel form ... like a comic book.

Glad to know that you appreciate the classics!

From the Alamo City,

Steven P. Gordon.

Make that June 10, 2012. We're not "that" far into the future ... yet. Haven't seen any WALL-E units about cleaning up our conspicuous consumption.

Dear Steve:

Right now our conspicuous consumption is beyond our existing robots' capacity to clean, but maybe one day robot technology will catch up.

Until then we'll just have to rely on prison labor.

Tim Chitwood, tchitwood@ledger-enquirer.com, 706-571-8508.