Happy May Day! What images does that conger up for you? I think of two very different things; First, lovely little girls with flowers in their hair dancing around a large pole stuck into the ground with ribbons and flowers streaming from it. Each little girls hold onto a ribbon and sings as she dances around the pole (May Pole). Second, the annual parade of weaponry in the former Soviet Union. This was a time when they held their annual May Day Parade, with all of their military might including tanks, huge missiles on flat bed trucks, and hundreds or thousands of armed,uniformed soldiers.

Two pretty diverse images, don't you think? Personally I prefer the first, the little girls. The second image always scared me half to death. It sure is nice not to have the nightly news filled with it but then does that mean we have nothing to worry about.

Do you think that our "nightly news" is pretty sanitized? That we really don't see these things because there are people in charge who want them to be "out of sight and out of mind". I often get the feeling that we are being led down the garden path and lulled into complacency, so that these people in charge can do whatever they want.

So, just because we don't see the missiles and other military might, does it mean it doesn't exist? Do we really feel safer because we think the primary threat comes from individuals and not an organized group big enough to be called a country? Personally, I think the real threat comes from within. Within each of us and the things we are willing to put up with. Everybody complains but does anybody do anything about the things that they are complaining about. Most people don't want to "rock the boat". As long as they are well fed, can afford the toys that they want and have a comfortable roof over their head, why make waves. Interesting, that this seems to be changing in our world.

I don't have the answers, but I do like to think about what those answers might be because I'm afraid that we're really going to need them pretty soon here. Let's put our heads together, keep our minds open to possibilities and try to find the answers. Our future may depend on it.