THE WHIRL AROUND US It may, to some extent, be the exceptionally hot weather we have been experiencing in so many sections of the nation recently but you can blame only so much on the weatherman. The slurred greeting in so many places has been: "S'hot anuff 4U?"and "a washed-out" feeling has been a general complaint.
This is nothing new. One of the very first visitors to the eastern end of Virginia - a man named John Smith - complained in letters and in diary entrys-of-three or four -about the miserable weather he was encountering in e colony named Virginia. He disliked the sudden changes to which he was being subject. One day was sunny and the next day rain took over. Even within the span of a single day the same transition could change a bright,sunny afternoon into a soggy site.
He had seen enough of the seasons in-action in Virgina to set a standard for complainer for all time, and we have had a flock of 'em! Once they learn to dress properly and seek cool, pleasant spots,or cozy, warm nooks as needed he come to love Mid-Atlantic variety - found even in the weather.
The days news,too,has been disquieting and far from cheerful. It is a shame that so many of man's petty dislikes and hatefulness endure through so many centuries of Time. It seems impossible for a relatively small plot of land to could be the focal point of such a whirl-wide kaleidoscope of so many types of warfare and confusion which defies mankind's efforts to control it all.
My first memory of conflict in the Middle East as a continuing,endless news event stems from a manuscript by an Englishman named Arthur Balfour. He set down a grand total of one hundred and twenty-five words sent it to interested persons who planned to do what the paper - thereafter widely known as "The Balfour Declaration" suggested. It gave official British approval to the concept of building a Jewish National Homeland in Palestine.
As you know, it was done. Not, perhaps, even close to the way in which the originators may have had in mind.
That was in November of 1917. I was one year old then and it has been a major problem ever since. It remains a main cause of so much that is happening today and affects the lives of all or us.
Andrew McCaskey amccsr@adelphia.net 8-4-06 [c421wds]
