The Settlement Observer is not the first person to write anonymously for a newspaper. In fact, the Observer is not the first person to write anonymously for a Farmington newspaper. In fact, the Observer is not even the first person to write anonymously for a Farmington newspaper under the name Observer.

History is important. George Santayana said, “A country without a memory is like a country of madmen.” At first glance, this statement may seem metaphorical or figurative. But, in fact, it’s literally true. A madman (a very strange or disturbed person) who speaks to a lamppost does so because he does not comprehend the nature of a lamppost or that lampposts cannot hear or talk or reason. The madman does not understand what common sense experience has taught everyone else in the world about inanimate objects.