When I looked this word up in my 1992 edition of the American Heritage Dictionary it is defined as 1. One who is assertively negative in attitude.

For many weeks this has a prominent feature of the religious controversy currently being rehashed in every issue in the letters to the editor. Ninety years ago the Scopes trial, also known as the Monkey trial, concerned creationism vs. evolution. I thought evolution won that argument, but some naysayers disagree.

The U.S. Census reported a doubling of the number of citizens choosing the answer “None” when asked about their religion.

I wonder how much of this movement away from religion is due to the naysayers? The word that follows in my dictionary is “Nazarene.” Isn’t that interesting since Jesus, whom this controversy is all about, is only the first definition given? The second is a sect of early Christians of Jewish origin who retained many of the prescribed Jewish observances. In other words, the first of the naysayers.

When I served in the Navy the proper response to any order was “aye-aye, sir.” It’s a much better response. Life is so brief and tenuous that to affirm the miracle of our existence seems paramount.

Hundreds of miracles surround us. As the sperm loses its tail to fertilize the egg a new life begins. Embryology is an amazing revelation of miracles. The continuing expansion of our universe is a miracle. Our earth rotates at 1,000 miles an hour, and yet a steady hand can balance a coin on edge. Another miracle.

Every morning I watch the sky separate from the earth in the predawn darkness. I hear wind in the trees, and the flapping of wings as birds fly. The music of the natural world is a miracle. Be gone, naysayers! Say “aye-aye, sir” to the miracle of a brand new day.