One of Alabama’s mottos is “Dare to Explore,” Great Americans have long dared the unknown. Henson and Peary reached the North Pole. Jean Baptist Point Du Sable is known as the father of Chicago, having set up a trading post where the great city stands. None, however, would depart to explore new lands, seas, or regions without knowing all available information. We Owls, of course, always fly and don’t need a road. We need good winds, however.

A wise Chinese proverb says, “The best way to know the right road is to ask someone coming from the opposite direction.” It is said the harbors of New England and San Francisco were fountainheads of such detail. Whalers, sailors from abroad, and a host of others would share maps they’d compiled about the Arctic regions, for example. These outlines were often basic, drawn by amateurs. Likewise, those planning to cross the wide prairies of the new United States were confronted with vast stretches of only vaguely known regions. Conestoga wagon travelers would often depart along well-trod paths, some of which you can see today. The first travelers along these routes were known as “Trailblazers.”

Desperation for information also led, too often, to fraud, error, or misunderstanding. Travelers with no authorized source of information to consult could be swindled. Some hoped to shave weeks and miles off a cross continental trip by taking the “Hastings Cutoff.” Many failed on this route who were ill-advised of the shorter but near impassable terrain, deserts, and lack of water.

The United States Naval Academy found itself a source of validated information for an expanding nation of seafarers and entrepreneurs. Thus, US Navy expeditions to map stretches of coastal inlets, harbors, and foreign shores were plentiful. What these maps suggested would require knowledge of how, and when, to cross or enter these areas. You don’t want to cross a reef at low tide. On land, military-survey maps helped innumerable travelers avoid crossing steep pitched canyons or vast, waterless wastelands. It is not for nothing that the original intent of West Point Military Academy was to train engineers.

We learn truth through critically understanding what came before, and judging its validity. What may appear rock solid to one generation may be completely revised by the next. Unlike Owls, man’s instincts aren’t one size fits all. Whereas a painful, arduous route once awaited anyone crossing the southern reaches of the American West, James Beckwourth discovered a safer path through the mighty and forbidding Sierra Nevadas. His pass now bears his name. Whereas we once saw battles against the native inhabitants of the West as Manifest Destiny, we’ve since learned that treaties signed by our government were too often worthless once gold was discovered on lands promised to remain tribal “as long as the rivers shall flow.” Another strange truth about our ways recently came from abroad. A Dutch gangster sold over 200 hiding Jews to Nazi killers once he fleeced them, after promising protection. He used skills he’d learned from his two years in America. There he studied the techniques of powerful American gangsters like Al Capone. Capone’s organized crime came about due to easy money to be made exploiting America’s misguided zeal to eliminate alcohol through Prohibition. We need to remember what seems like the whole story might not be. We can learn from our mistakes and make things better.

President Eisenhower foresaw the future when he proposed we devote a civilian agency to scientific explorations in space, rather than leave it to our military alone. His vision was followed by President Kennedy who foresaw that international treaties would be required to assure peaceful space exploration and study. NASA, our great neighbor on Redstone Arsenal, is the fruit of such thoughtful international vision.

Here on earth FBI agents John E. Douglas and Robert Ressler first traveled to prisons to interview mass murderers. They learned from such study ways to identify, anticipate, and then counter serial killers before they murdered again. They were explorers in the realm of the human mind. After endless bureaucratic infighting and hostile responses to their wanting to study — not execute — mass killers, their relentless efforts finally paid off. The Behavioral Science Unit was created, which to date has saved countless lives and helped bring many killers to justice.

We all want things to be better. We can’t do that unless we are open to scientific study, artistic appreciations, and seeing other points of view. All of this takes patience and an open mind, not fear. It has been observed, “The real voyage of discovery consists, not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.”

We’ll pass this world on to our little owlets. Let’s leave them a hopeful place for their own future discoveries. Let’s make a place where their ideas count, sharing those ideas is a virtue, and care for others motivates us. We owe it to them to make their new ideas welcome.