Choosing Kansas to win is easier than dealing with Libya.

Welcome back to my world and I send out a warm hello from my desktop to yours, on this Monday, March 21, 2011. In case you didn't know, the situation in Japan has been one disaster on top of another, but yet, in our country, that would be the home of the grand old flag, the USA, according to polling, more people are following the exploits of Charlie Sheen than the number following the events in Japan. It is good to know that while many have observed the lack of visibility of our President during the many different calamities going on throughout the world, he did come out from his bunker to share some very critical information with the public. He made a guest appearance on ESPN to announce his choices and brackets for the NCAA Basketball Championship. I am aware the UN finally voted to enforce a no fly zone in Libya and now we are seeing a military response but previously our President had been absent from the process. Some reports say that Secretary of State Clinton has been livid over his indecisiveness. Before his foray into basketball we had heard no word on Libya, no word on the nuclear free fall in Japan, nothing about the current budget stalemate, but we do discover that he does have time to put together his predictions for the college basketball tournament. And, in case you missed it, a mini crisis has come up regarding the marriage of Prince William and his chosen bride Kate. It seems the maker of the royal wedding commemorative mug goofed big time, because they actually show portraits of the royal couple, except for one problem, wrong prince, it is Harry not William. I well remember once when I worked in public affairs at Fort Polk, we were involved in the welcoming of a new general to the fort. His name was Coates and the gold plate on the special year book said Coats instead. When our Major Maybin handed him the book, he not so politely handed it back to her and informed her it must be for a different person. Major Maybin, filling in for the vacant colonel position saw her career aspirations flash before her very eyes. When she returned from the ceremony the entire staff, including yours truly, got one huge royal chewing. I actually think screaming is a better word to describe it but I was trying to be nice. Working for the big company, I had to deal with situations where I had to answer for a big mistake but I'll just tell you, after that mug was discovered to be wrong, I would not have wanted to be the person responsible for the portrait portion of the project. He or she may already be in line to apply for the witness protection program. (I wonder what one of those wrong mugs would be worth. Talk about a collector's item!)

I'm not so much critical of President Obama as puzzled by his ducking of these catastrophic events. If you recall, it was his former Chief of Staff Rahm Emmanuel who uttered the famous line, "Never let a good crisis go to waste." Evidently the ones out there today are just too risky to predict whether there is any upside or not, and many believe the majority of the movers and shakers that are close to the President, they are heads down on his reelection and are not really paying attention to anything other than 2012. This kind of perceived reticence is the type that former President George W. Bush was crucified for by the mainstream media. However, many in the liberal media are spinning his NCAA picks as a wonderful example of how he can take a little timeout while having to deal with all the world's problems. I will be the first to agree these multiple crises are just about as difficult of problems that any President will have to deal with, but, they are what they are, and he is the elected leader of the free world, therefore, we should expect more than his thoughts on basketball at this crucial time in our history. Sometimes you have to wonder where he is coming from. Like the other day when he said he could understand how it would be easier to be the president of China than to have his job because the people there don't question every decision. That may be true but here in America we have what we have because of the sacrifice of others, and the right to question and critique any and all decisions made by our government is a bedrock principle within our freedoms. I am certain he was joking but those kind of jokes really give me the heebie-geebies at times.

I know what some of you are thinking about last Friday's fun day exhibition where I shared a number of images of yours truly. No doubt some of you thought that very last cartoon one that looked so buffoonish was an improvement over the original. Come to think about it, I kind of liked that one myself. One person told me that it made me look like a Leprechaun. Others said the big head was appropriate since I thought I was so smart. And, I did see one young fellow who just doubled over in laughing when he saw it. As I get older I am finding it easier to laugh at myself. Maybe it is because when you look at the big picture, most of the time, most of what we fret about, including things where we might have fun poked at us, they are not very big at all, in fact, they are minuscule compared to weighty matters, like eternity. It could be because I am aware that today I am much closer to eternity than I was many years ago when I did tend to take myself very seriously. That's not to say that any of us can't be offended when people are mean spirited in their comments, but, even those should be measured against their source and in how we might turn a negative into a positive by responding, not as one might expect, but with a sense of humility and kindness. We were taught growing up the Bible verses about turning the other cheek. However, we used to laugh about what happens after that cheek was turned because once that obligation was dealt with, they had better hang on. I'm absolutely certain that's not the meaning behind those verses and we have to take them within the context of a Spirit directed life and that will be the best way to take care of our responses. Have a great work week and may God bless us all. Amen.           .....More later.