Perspective

The US dodged a bullet when the terrorist failed to ignite his bomb on that Delta flight over Detroit this past Christmas. Those on the flight and those close to them were certainly lucky. It would have a horrible, senseless tragedy. But we need to put it into perspective. There are many tragedies that kill more innocent people and cost more money; earthquakes, hurricanes, automobile accidents and revenge for the terrorist attacks. As bad as they are, none of these with the possible exception of revenge threaten our way of life. There are several threats out there that might:

• The financial debacle – we almost went over the edge with this one. We are not out of the woods yet with the high unemployment and foreclosures that still loom.

• Health care – whether or not you think the 40,000,000 without insurance should get healthcare, the continuing astronomical increases in costs will break us all. The only way out is for logical rationing of health care. It cannot happen as long as the lobbyists control Congress.

• Climate change – Shortages of water are expected to create well over 10,000,000 additional refugees in Africa alone over the next few years. The losers are going to go after the winners of this lottery. Watch out Canada.

• Population – The earth’s resources are fixed. It is limited on how many people and animals it can support. We are probably already beyond the earth’s ability with7 billion people, providing we want them to live in what we would consider a reasonable lifestyle.

Terrorism is awful but we need to put it in perspective.