People are fascinated with the unknown. This fascination branches into numerous aspects of our lives.

Take, for instance, the Soviet Union and the Communist bloc. For the most part, the eastern and western halves of the world were mysteries to each other. While Communism dominated in the east, the west thrived industrially and technologically. When easterners caught their first glimpse of western culture, they were starry-eyed. As western technology and culture slowly seeps into eastern societies, the east wants more. They wonder what that golden arch is, why those people are slamming their bodies against each other at a concert and how that picture tube offers so many programming choices.

But fascination isn’t only on the worldly level. There’s one kind of fascination all of us have been through (or are still experiencing). Remember those junior high days when your interest in the opposite sex began or when you wondered whether that special-someone-of-week would ask you to dance to an oh-so-romantic slow song like “Love Hurts.” You were fascinated with the unknown.

Lately, fascination with the unknown has become a trend. People wonder what their future will bring. This increased interest has lead to heightened popularity of what the stars will bring us.

People have been trying to predict the future for centuries. In earlier times, fortune tellers and ancient prophecies were the popular thing. Some of these prophecies claimed to predict major events, such as the rise of Hitler, Kennedy’s assassination and the Challenger explosion. Today, we learn about our futures from a variety of sources, including horoscopes and psychics.

Most of us would like to know what the future will bring. If you could find out one thing about your future, what would you want to know? Would you want to know where you will be working? Or who you will marry? Or would you want to know about a major world event, like a war or universal peace? Would you like to know how many children you will have and what sex they will be? Would you like to know if there are cures for deadly diseases? Would you like to know when you will die?

These are just some of the questions that many people are asking. There are different levels to classify what people want to know about their futures.

First, there are the people who don’t want to know anything and don’t care. While many people out there may think they are the don’t-care type, they are wrong. Do you wonder where you will be working when you graduate? If the answer is yes, you aren’t a don’t-care. Very few people are don’t-cares.

Next, there are the people who want to find out where their first job will be. These people passively wonder about what the future will hold. Every once in a while, a wandering thought will flash into their heads. For instance, when you are driving down the road and listening to the radio and all of a sudden a question pops into your head. Once you start thinking about the question, you realize that it’s not something that you can answer … that, instead, the future holds the answer.

Third, there are people like me that read their horoscope everyday just for the fun of it. I admit, when I open the Daily, I first turn to the horoscopes to see what Linda C. Black has to say about my day. Although some people stop reading when Linda tells them their number is low, meaning that they will have a challenging day, I read the whole thing. If Linda tells me that my day is going to be crappy, I might as well know why.

In all honesty, I don’t believe the horoscopes shape my life. I understand that horoscopes are unbelievably open to different interpretations. However, every once in a while, I will read my horoscope in the Des Moines Register or magazines like Glamour and Cosmopolitan. Most people in this category with me think that it’s kind of corny or ironic when their day somewhat relates to what the horoscope says.

I think I am the average person who wonders about the future. I wonder about where I will be working, who I will marry and how many children I will have. I’d also like to think I have some control over these questions. I know I control part of my future, but I also believe in a higher being (not a psychic) overlooking me and my future.

Fourth, there are people who have called the psychic network. The testimonial commercials about a free psychic reading are pretty attractive to this type of people. They also like those cheesy commercials where they interview people who get psychic readings at the mall. The people are then bombarded by the “professional” psychic network reporter who fails to get both sides of the story. That reporter-type just happens not to find anybody who thought the psychic reading was lame because the psychic screwed up.

And fifth, there are people who are extreme believers and live by the stars. Extreme believers plan their lives from astrological and psychic advice. They also check to see if anything that happened could damper their future. Extreme believers are kind of like people who live every detail of their lives by the Bible, but the advice source differs.

Although everyone is entitled to believe at whichever level they choose, a majority of people don’t seek psychic advice but read their horoscope for the heck of it. I happen to think it’s neat when the horoscope fits my day, but I don’t think it shapes my day.

There are some things I would like to know about my career and my family, but I question whether anyone can give me those answers. I definitely would not like to know when I may die or (even though it’s technologically possible) what the sex of my children may be.

If I were given any answers, neither the experience nor my life leading up to the event would be the same. Sometimes it’s nice to not know what tomorrow will bring.

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Erin Payne is a junior in journalism and mass communication and political science from Rock Rapids.