Thursday September 18, 1975
Minneapolis, Minnesota
At the end of the working day Dronning entered the teacher’s lounge for
one last break before going home. There he found the boy’s gym teacher,
Mr Riker, in a state of almost blind rage.
“What happened?” Said Dronning.
“That new student in the ninth grade--Boatman!”
“What did he do?”
The gym and music classes were held at the same time on alternate days
and the students of each grade level were split into two groups
depending on which music class they were in. The school choir and band
members of the would take their music class one day and then gym class
on the next. The students in the general music course would be in their
gym and music classes on the opposite days.
Boatman had opted for the general music course.
The boys gym teacher was a middle aged man who was built like a
linebacker for an American Rules football team. His office was
decorated with memorabilia from the Philadelphia Eagles team of the
National Footfall League. And his face, especially the nose, appeared
as if it had been rearranged several times on the field.
Boatman was not affirmatively impressed with the man.
“I think I will pass on this nonsense.” He said with his clearly adult voice.
Riker was surprised.
“What?”
“It’s basically a waste of time and motion.”
Riker now tried to argue his position.
“Look, the gym class is a basic part of this school!”
“No,” Boatman replied, “public education in the United States was
designed by the closet communists of the so-called Progressive Movement
to indoctrinate Young Americans into becoming drones in their future
communist collective. And Physical Education is an essential part of
collectivist indoctrination. If the bloody red banner of Communism is
ever raised over this great nation its because you had a part in making
it happen.”
Riker stared at him before responding in anger. Before he spoke he grabbed Boatman’s shirt with his right hand.
“Listen punk...”
As his right hand came down on the left side on shirt Boatman brought
his own right hand down on top of Riker’s. With his left hand he seized
Riker’s elbow and pushed forward on the elbow.
Boatman now spoke with the voice of adult political authority.
“Riker, I can break your arm now, which will be bureaucratically inconvenient for me, and very painful for you.”
Riker was shocked. This shouldn’t be happening.
Boatman continued to speak with authority.
“Where I come from students are taught to kill with their bare hands.”
Rifle and pistol marksmanship were also part of citizenship education on Eden and Zion in the Alpha Centauri system.
“But I won’t do that,” Boatman continued, “You have crossed a line and
committed the act of assault, that means I will not attend any more
classes in this gym ever again. And you can let go now.”
Boatman’s stare was that of an experienced executioner. Riker simply let go of the shirt and backed off.
Boatman then departed the gym.
The subsequent meeting in the Vice Principal’s office was very short.
“You intimidated Riker?” Said Marchuk. “How”
“There’s a book that was published a few years ago, Winning Through Intimidation
by Robert J. Ringer, which was actually an inaccurate title. In it he
shows how to win by being confident and not being intimidated by the
people you interact with. The thing is that I never read the book until
the transit to Alpha Centauri aboard the Eagle.”
“Okay.” Marchuk said. “You know that taking you out of the gym class will be a major pain in the ass?”
“Yes, but it has to be done.”
Dronning had another encounter with Boatman on that day. The subject of
the class session was the Prohibition Period in the United States.
Dronning made what in retrospect was the mistake on calling on Boatman again.
“Although there was an longstanding effort to outlaw the sale and
consumption of alcohol by those acting on religious grounds, the actual
ban was brought about by members of the so-called Progressive Movement
during the Wilson Administration. Prohibition was an opportunity to
reverse the essential relationship between the People and the
Government. Prior to Prohibition the People held primacy over the
State. This was established in the first three words of the United
States Constitution, ‘We The People.’ But the long term program
of the so-called Progressives required the establishment of the Primacy
of the State over the People. In this condition the Progressive rulers
could impose their will upon the People without constitutional
restraint.”
Dronning was struck speechless where he stood. This was nothing like the course material.
Boatman continued.
“Under the Primacy of the State the Federal Government was turned from
the main defender of the Rights of the People to the primary violator of
those rights. Although Prohibition was perpetrated by the Progressives
under Wilson it was enforced by the Republicans under Harding, Coolidge
and Hoover, without the understanding of the true purpose. With
establishment of the soft socialism under the New Deal of Franklin
Roosevelt the prohibition of alcohol was no longer necessary as a part
of the progressive program and was subsequently repealed.”
Dronning could only look at Boatman in stunned silence. The other students in the class began to applaud Boatman as he sat down.
Both Allen Keller and Victoria Grant were firmly impressed by Boatman
and each had decided to try to speak to him privately after school was
out.
Showing posts with label Another Step Back. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Another Step Back. Show all posts
Thursday, December 11, 2014
Wednesday, December 10, 2014
Another Step Back - Part 4
Wednesday September 17, 1975
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Continued
Upon returning to the family residence in the Northeast section of Minneapolis Boatman fired up the computer workstation in the combined office/den and updated the mission log with his discovery of Stephanie Cook and the initiation of contact with her. He didn’t mention any of the kisses or other aspects of the contact.
How the Hell am I going to explain this to Alice? He thought.
Alice had been born aboard the Integral, the last sublight starship to be launched from the Solar System to Alpha Centauri. She was twelve standard years old when the vessel arrived in the system. At the time of arrival the ship had degenerated into a virtual gulag and Alice, under the alphanumeric designation that was tattooed onto her left forearm at birth had been assigned to sexually gratify the leader of the collective. But the leader would eventually be arrested and put to death for his crimes.
Alice would eventually be adopted by the third incarnation of Evelyn Boatman and his wife Doctor Cheryl Boatman. She would grow up to become a surgeon and as an adult she would strongly resemble the pre-reformation actress Halle Berry.
Any form of deception was clearly adversarial behavior and therefore was not an option in their relationship.
Just tell her the truth–all of it.
He did.
Upon returning to the residence from her teaching position at the University of Minnesota Medical School Alice sat down and listened calmly as her adoptive father described the events of the day. She thought for a moment before calmly responding.
“Dad,” she said, “you’re certainly a mensch but are clearly not a knight in shining armor, and you are certainly not a paladin class character from Dungeons And Dragons.”
He nodded, she continued.
“And your habit of virtually screaming and leaping at problems like a Kzinti may work for technical problems but it can and will lead to serious failures on the Human level.”
“So what should I do?” He asked.
Again she responded calmly.
“You should continue to do what you have normally done, once you become involved with a problem you rationally work on it to the full solution. The thing is that this version of Stephanie will not grow up to be the same person she was on the original timeline. And she certainly won’t shtup the boy who impregnated her on the first timeline either.”
“Of course not.”
“We will show her the better way to live--we have to.”
Boatman blinked.
“We will?” He said.
Alice replied.
“She’s practically a member of the family now, assuming of course that she doesn’t scream and run away when you tell her the truth. Practically all the two of you have to do now is set the wedding date. And if Stephanie is going to become a member of our family then I certainly will do everything I can to see that she properly learns to live as a fully rational person.”
“Of course.” He replied.
He now asked his own question to her.
“So how was your day?”
The answer had a clearly sarcastic tone.
“It was fun.”
“In what way?”
“I had an encounter with a campus commie in the faculty lounge. It was Thomas Archer of the English Department and he apparently believed that I was an actual native American Black woman and would seriously fall for his Progressive dreck.”
“Of course not.” Evelyn replied.
“So after the idiot had generated his noise about the wonderful things he was doing for the black people I replied to him: ‘So what, we’re all human.’”
“That had to have twisted his knickers.” He said.
“Oh yes, it certainly did.” Said Alice. “There was even applause from some of the other faculty members present.”
Evelyn now mentioned the next event of the school day.
“So I also got sent to the office, apparently I severely annoyed an indoctrinator when I explained the actual difference between Democracy and the American concept of a Constitutional Republic.”
“Well it was part of basic citizenship education back home on Zion and Eden.” Said Alice.
“And back on Ganymede and the rest of the Outer System when I was growing up.”
Then there were his own general efforts at self education. The twenty five year transit between the Solar System and Alpha Centauri also provided a very clear and very firm meaning to the concept of boredom. Boatman had not actually performed a complete read through of the shipboard library aboard the Eagle but he came very close to it.
“So you twisted his knickers?” She said.
“Yes, absolutely.” He replied.
Of course there was no point in mentioning that the Social Studies teacher was an obvious flaming queer.
There was tomorrow to prepare for.
At the family home Stephanie and her close friend Vicky Grant were doing some of their homework together. They were also discussing the events of the day.
Vicky had roughly the same height as Stephanie and was at the same level of physical growth as well. She had long dark brown hair and wore a large pair of eyeglasses.
“So you now have a new boyfriend?” Said Vicky.
“Oh yes!” Stephanie replied. “Evelyn is unbelievable! He’s a real gentleman and he’s so mature!”
“I heard about what happened in the lunch room.”
“Yes,” said Stephanie, “I was talking to Evelyn and Joey came up and made a scene. But Evelyn just was a real man through the whole thing and Joey just walked away.”
“And he kissed you.” Said Vicky.
“Oh yes!” Stephanie exclaimed. “He...he...I don’t know how to describe it...he’s so mature!”
Then Vicky spoke again.
“He was in Mr. Dronning’s class today, and he made Dronning scream at him.”
“No...”
Dronning had a reputation as an easygoing teacher.
Vicky continued.
“Evelyn said something I never heard before, that the United States was a Constitutional Republic and not a Democracy. And that Democracy was not a form of government. And then he told Mr. Dronning that he was ignorant.”
Stephanie could only stare at this point.
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Continued
Upon returning to the family residence in the Northeast section of Minneapolis Boatman fired up the computer workstation in the combined office/den and updated the mission log with his discovery of Stephanie Cook and the initiation of contact with her. He didn’t mention any of the kisses or other aspects of the contact.
How the Hell am I going to explain this to Alice? He thought.
Alice had been born aboard the Integral, the last sublight starship to be launched from the Solar System to Alpha Centauri. She was twelve standard years old when the vessel arrived in the system. At the time of arrival the ship had degenerated into a virtual gulag and Alice, under the alphanumeric designation that was tattooed onto her left forearm at birth had been assigned to sexually gratify the leader of the collective. But the leader would eventually be arrested and put to death for his crimes.
Alice would eventually be adopted by the third incarnation of Evelyn Boatman and his wife Doctor Cheryl Boatman. She would grow up to become a surgeon and as an adult she would strongly resemble the pre-reformation actress Halle Berry.
Any form of deception was clearly adversarial behavior and therefore was not an option in their relationship.
Just tell her the truth–all of it.
He did.
Upon returning to the residence from her teaching position at the University of Minnesota Medical School Alice sat down and listened calmly as her adoptive father described the events of the day. She thought for a moment before calmly responding.
“Dad,” she said, “you’re certainly a mensch but are clearly not a knight in shining armor, and you are certainly not a paladin class character from Dungeons And Dragons.”
He nodded, she continued.
“And your habit of virtually screaming and leaping at problems like a Kzinti may work for technical problems but it can and will lead to serious failures on the Human level.”
“So what should I do?” He asked.
Again she responded calmly.
“You should continue to do what you have normally done, once you become involved with a problem you rationally work on it to the full solution. The thing is that this version of Stephanie will not grow up to be the same person she was on the original timeline. And she certainly won’t shtup the boy who impregnated her on the first timeline either.”
“Of course not.”
“We will show her the better way to live--we have to.”
Boatman blinked.
“We will?” He said.
Alice replied.
“She’s practically a member of the family now, assuming of course that she doesn’t scream and run away when you tell her the truth. Practically all the two of you have to do now is set the wedding date. And if Stephanie is going to become a member of our family then I certainly will do everything I can to see that she properly learns to live as a fully rational person.”
“Of course.” He replied.
He now asked his own question to her.
“So how was your day?”
The answer had a clearly sarcastic tone.
“It was fun.”
“In what way?”
“I had an encounter with a campus commie in the faculty lounge. It was Thomas Archer of the English Department and he apparently believed that I was an actual native American Black woman and would seriously fall for his Progressive dreck.”
“Of course not.” Evelyn replied.
“So after the idiot had generated his noise about the wonderful things he was doing for the black people I replied to him: ‘So what, we’re all human.’”
“That had to have twisted his knickers.” He said.
“Oh yes, it certainly did.” Said Alice. “There was even applause from some of the other faculty members present.”
Evelyn now mentioned the next event of the school day.
“So I also got sent to the office, apparently I severely annoyed an indoctrinator when I explained the actual difference between Democracy and the American concept of a Constitutional Republic.”
“Well it was part of basic citizenship education back home on Zion and Eden.” Said Alice.
“And back on Ganymede and the rest of the Outer System when I was growing up.”
Then there were his own general efforts at self education. The twenty five year transit between the Solar System and Alpha Centauri also provided a very clear and very firm meaning to the concept of boredom. Boatman had not actually performed a complete read through of the shipboard library aboard the Eagle but he came very close to it.
“So you twisted his knickers?” She said.
“Yes, absolutely.” He replied.
Of course there was no point in mentioning that the Social Studies teacher was an obvious flaming queer.
There was tomorrow to prepare for.
At the family home Stephanie and her close friend Vicky Grant were doing some of their homework together. They were also discussing the events of the day.
Vicky had roughly the same height as Stephanie and was at the same level of physical growth as well. She had long dark brown hair and wore a large pair of eyeglasses.
“So you now have a new boyfriend?” Said Vicky.
“Oh yes!” Stephanie replied. “Evelyn is unbelievable! He’s a real gentleman and he’s so mature!”
“I heard about what happened in the lunch room.”
“Yes,” said Stephanie, “I was talking to Evelyn and Joey came up and made a scene. But Evelyn just was a real man through the whole thing and Joey just walked away.”
“And he kissed you.” Said Vicky.
“Oh yes!” Stephanie exclaimed. “He...he...I don’t know how to describe it...he’s so mature!”
Then Vicky spoke again.
“He was in Mr. Dronning’s class today, and he made Dronning scream at him.”
“No...”
Dronning had a reputation as an easygoing teacher.
Vicky continued.
“Evelyn said something I never heard before, that the United States was a Constitutional Republic and not a Democracy. And that Democracy was not a form of government. And then he told Mr. Dronning that he was ignorant.”
Stephanie could only stare at this point.
Sunday, December 07, 2014
Another Step back - Part 3
Wednesday September 17, 1975
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Continued
There was still the Ninth Grade Social Studies class in the afternoon. Historically the term “social studies” was a euphemism for the indoctrination in numerous falsehoods concerning history and society. Boatman had fully expected to fail the course as a result of consistently speaking the truth. What he at all didn’t expect was that the indoctrinator was himself an open full blown homosexual.
An actual real live flaming queer.
Mr. Dronning began by calling on Boatman, as his newest victim of the indoctrination process, to define Democratic Government.
“Democratic Government is a contradiction in terms.” Boatman replied.
Dronning blinked. He then quickly responded.
“You apparently don’t understand what a Democratic Government is. In case you haven’t noticed we actually live under one.”
“Actually we don’t.”said Boatman, “The United States of America was established as a Constitutional Republic. This was an actual form of government that was limited to the exercise of explicitly specified powers. A Democracy, on the other hand, is an unlimited state which claims the authority to act on the popular will. The murder of Socrates by a majority vote in the city-state of Athens is a clear case in point. Also the various Communist states are currently claiming to be democracies in order to exercise unrestrained power over their subjects.”
Dronning was clearly angry.
“Do you want to pass this class?”
Boatman stood up to clearly and calmly respond.
“Reality is real and your red pencil will not change any fact of it. Should you actually issue adverse grades to those refuse to submit to the nonsense that you are putting out you will only have demonstrated that you are absolutely unfit to teach any subject in a classroom at all.”
Other victims of the indoctrination process in the classroom sat up and in some cases openly smiled. The counterparts of two of these students in the original timeline would go on to make history. Allen Keller and Victoria Grant would both play a role in The Reformation in the United States and the subsequent Final War on Earth.
Boatman continued.
“But then this shouldn’t be a surprise at all. John Dewey, who laid out the public school system in the United States, was a closet socialist who was working towards the indoctrination of subsequent generations of Americans into accepting the doctrine of Socialism over the rational and free nation that was originally founded and they were born in.”
Dronning shouted at Boatman.
“You are refusing to accept my authority!”
Boatman calmly replied.
“Authority in founded on knowledge, tovarish. As you are demonstrating the absolute opposite, all of the rational minds in this room have no choice but to ignore you and your mouth droppings.”
For Dronning, especially being addressed as a comrade in Russian, this was too much. He ordered Boatman to leave the class and go to the Vice Principal’s office.
Steven Marchuk, the Vice Principal of Sheridan Junior High School, had been read in on Boatman and his mission.
“You are already making enemies here.” Said Marchuk.
“These are clearly irrational times.” Boatman replied. “It’s not surprising that some folks would be outraged at a statement of fact.”
“Dronning also said that you threatened him.”
“Nonsense.” Boatman replied.
Boatman then retrieved a small device from the internal breast pocket of his suit. He pressed a series of virtual buttons on the dynamic display and showed the screen of the device to Marchuk. The device then played a video file of the incident as recorded by the tiny camera on the front of the suit jacket.
“So he lied.” Said Marchuk.
“Yes.” Boatman replied.
With classes for him practically ended for the day Boatman waited for Stephanie at the University Avenue entrance of the school. Stephanie was smiling as she walked up to him. He fully embraced her and gave her another adult kiss.
“So we’re a couple?” She asked.
“Yes.” He replied.
“Um,” she said, “maybe this is too early, but...”
“Sex?” He said.
“Yes.”
He replied to her as an adult speaking to an adult..
“Stephanie, are you ready to become a mother?”
She was shocked at the question.
“No!” She replied.
He nodded and spoke again.
“Some problems take time and thought to solve, this is no exception.”
Of course one of the issues he would face was his relationship to his daughter and the crew of the Falcon. There was absolutely no way that they would follow a man that sexually used a teenage girl.
As he walked with Stephanie to her family home Boatman noticed that Joey was distantly following them.
Something may have to be done about him. He thought.
Later in the evening at his current residence L. Ron Hubbard--the founder of the Church of Scientology--was opening a large manila envelope that was addressed to him.
The contents of the envelope were pages containing text and photographs. Hubbard then read the cover letter.
As a practitioner of Ayn Rand’s philosophy of Objectivism I would not normally care about any aspect of Scientology or Dianetics. However, as a result of our accidental journey backwards in time we have information that does concern you and the COS. After your death on the original timeline in 1986 a young man, David Miscavige, had in a fashion contrary to your instructions taken control of the COS. As the head of COS Miscavige had practiced Black Dianetics and brought the church to the edge of extinction. Normally I would not be concerned about this but his actions would ultimately result in the inflicting of needless suffering on members of the Sea Org and at least one senseless and preventable death. As an Objectivist I cannot in good conscience allow this to happen without an intervention. I fully recommend that Miscavige be permanently disconnected from the COS. As to the question of if process R2-45 should be carried out on him I will leave this to you.
Evelyn Boatman, Mission Commander of Starship Falcon
Scientology process R2-45 was the termination of a life with a M1911A1 pistol. Hubbard himself had personally described it as, “an enormously effective process for exteriorization but its use is frowned upon by this society at this time.”
Some people in the audience at the time had found this statement humorous.
Hubbard now sat back in his chair to examine and contemplate the contents of the package.
The next day in the United Kingdom a girl attending a boarding school for the upper classes opened a parcel that was addressed to her. Diana Spencer read a brief history of what had been her life on the original timeline. The document included a series of photographs that concluded with her adult counterpart laying in the wreckage of a luxury car in Paris.
Diana simply didn’t know what to do.
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Continued
There was still the Ninth Grade Social Studies class in the afternoon. Historically the term “social studies” was a euphemism for the indoctrination in numerous falsehoods concerning history and society. Boatman had fully expected to fail the course as a result of consistently speaking the truth. What he at all didn’t expect was that the indoctrinator was himself an open full blown homosexual.
An actual real live flaming queer.
Mr. Dronning began by calling on Boatman, as his newest victim of the indoctrination process, to define Democratic Government.
“Democratic Government is a contradiction in terms.” Boatman replied.
Dronning blinked. He then quickly responded.
“You apparently don’t understand what a Democratic Government is. In case you haven’t noticed we actually live under one.”
“Actually we don’t.”said Boatman, “The United States of America was established as a Constitutional Republic. This was an actual form of government that was limited to the exercise of explicitly specified powers. A Democracy, on the other hand, is an unlimited state which claims the authority to act on the popular will. The murder of Socrates by a majority vote in the city-state of Athens is a clear case in point. Also the various Communist states are currently claiming to be democracies in order to exercise unrestrained power over their subjects.”
Dronning was clearly angry.
“Do you want to pass this class?”
Boatman stood up to clearly and calmly respond.
“Reality is real and your red pencil will not change any fact of it. Should you actually issue adverse grades to those refuse to submit to the nonsense that you are putting out you will only have demonstrated that you are absolutely unfit to teach any subject in a classroom at all.”
Other victims of the indoctrination process in the classroom sat up and in some cases openly smiled. The counterparts of two of these students in the original timeline would go on to make history. Allen Keller and Victoria Grant would both play a role in The Reformation in the United States and the subsequent Final War on Earth.
Boatman continued.
“But then this shouldn’t be a surprise at all. John Dewey, who laid out the public school system in the United States, was a closet socialist who was working towards the indoctrination of subsequent generations of Americans into accepting the doctrine of Socialism over the rational and free nation that was originally founded and they were born in.”
Dronning shouted at Boatman.
“You are refusing to accept my authority!”
Boatman calmly replied.
“Authority in founded on knowledge, tovarish. As you are demonstrating the absolute opposite, all of the rational minds in this room have no choice but to ignore you and your mouth droppings.”
For Dronning, especially being addressed as a comrade in Russian, this was too much. He ordered Boatman to leave the class and go to the Vice Principal’s office.
Steven Marchuk, the Vice Principal of Sheridan Junior High School, had been read in on Boatman and his mission.
“You are already making enemies here.” Said Marchuk.
“These are clearly irrational times.” Boatman replied. “It’s not surprising that some folks would be outraged at a statement of fact.”
“Dronning also said that you threatened him.”
“Nonsense.” Boatman replied.
Boatman then retrieved a small device from the internal breast pocket of his suit. He pressed a series of virtual buttons on the dynamic display and showed the screen of the device to Marchuk. The device then played a video file of the incident as recorded by the tiny camera on the front of the suit jacket.
“So he lied.” Said Marchuk.
“Yes.” Boatman replied.
With classes for him practically ended for the day Boatman waited for Stephanie at the University Avenue entrance of the school. Stephanie was smiling as she walked up to him. He fully embraced her and gave her another adult kiss.
“So we’re a couple?” She asked.
“Yes.” He replied.
“Um,” she said, “maybe this is too early, but...”
“Sex?” He said.
“Yes.”
He replied to her as an adult speaking to an adult..
“Stephanie, are you ready to become a mother?”
She was shocked at the question.
“No!” She replied.
He nodded and spoke again.
“Some problems take time and thought to solve, this is no exception.”
Of course one of the issues he would face was his relationship to his daughter and the crew of the Falcon. There was absolutely no way that they would follow a man that sexually used a teenage girl.
As he walked with Stephanie to her family home Boatman noticed that Joey was distantly following them.
Something may have to be done about him. He thought.
Later in the evening at his current residence L. Ron Hubbard--the founder of the Church of Scientology--was opening a large manila envelope that was addressed to him.
The contents of the envelope were pages containing text and photographs. Hubbard then read the cover letter.
As a practitioner of Ayn Rand’s philosophy of Objectivism I would not normally care about any aspect of Scientology or Dianetics. However, as a result of our accidental journey backwards in time we have information that does concern you and the COS. After your death on the original timeline in 1986 a young man, David Miscavige, had in a fashion contrary to your instructions taken control of the COS. As the head of COS Miscavige had practiced Black Dianetics and brought the church to the edge of extinction. Normally I would not be concerned about this but his actions would ultimately result in the inflicting of needless suffering on members of the Sea Org and at least one senseless and preventable death. As an Objectivist I cannot in good conscience allow this to happen without an intervention. I fully recommend that Miscavige be permanently disconnected from the COS. As to the question of if process R2-45 should be carried out on him I will leave this to you.
Evelyn Boatman, Mission Commander of Starship Falcon
Scientology process R2-45 was the termination of a life with a M1911A1 pistol. Hubbard himself had personally described it as, “an enormously effective process for exteriorization but its use is frowned upon by this society at this time.”
Some people in the audience at the time had found this statement humorous.
Hubbard now sat back in his chair to examine and contemplate the contents of the package.
The next day in the United Kingdom a girl attending a boarding school for the upper classes opened a parcel that was addressed to her. Diana Spencer read a brief history of what had been her life on the original timeline. The document included a series of photographs that concluded with her adult counterpart laying in the wreckage of a luxury car in Paris.
Diana simply didn’t know what to do.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)