A year ago,

I was visiting my son's parents-in-law near Coos Bay, Oregon. His father-in-law is a professor of marine biology there, a career that to me is like being Indiana Jones.

The first thing we heard on Christmas Day was that he has a friend in Sri Lanka whom he couldn't locate after the tsunami. As we watched, I was reminded again of how vulnerable we all are. How many people on Earth live below 30 feet elevation? Certainly Katrina and Rita reminded Americans that a lot of us arein that category, too.

How many were saved by the intervention of the American military and the outpouring of help from around the world? There was a study announced this week that we may be causing global warming by cleaning the air. Thank you, Scientists. I feel more reassured than ever that change is the real condition of this earth. Whether we need to worry about global warming or not, disease, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, typhoon, hurricanes and tornadoes will continue to plague us. Why do so many people seem determined to add war and famine to the mix?

My uncle's memoirs of the Cabanatuan prisoner of war camp in the Phillipines illustrate how inhuman human beings can get, and how they can rise above such horrors. So far, I've read through October 1942 and my heart goes out when I read of his hopes to be rescued before December when he actually had 3 more years to go.

Socialism is against my political leanings, but I wonder how many lives could be saved by just what this country spends on computer software. The more we do to create jobs around the world, the more good we do, even if those jobs seem menial and exploitative to us. Don't send money merely. Buy products.