What Change?

There's an old saying: The more things change the more they stay the same. Seems kind of contradictory until you really begin to think about it. This past Shabbos hubby and I had a very quiet Shabbos with no one at home and no company. I had a chance to catch up on a whole bunch of reading, newspapers and magazines in particular. Change the names in some of the articles and change the dates and I could swear that I'd read about just these items years and years ago. We like to believe that we have progressed over the years--maybe yes...and maybe no.

The following song was was written by Sheldon Harnick and introduced by the Kingston Trio back in 1959. Sound familiar? With only a little editing it could be an anthem for today.

The Merry Minuet


They're rioting in Africa,
They're starving in Spain
There's hurricanes in Florida,
And Texas needs rain

This whole world is festering with unhappy souls
The French hate the Germans, The Germans hate the Poles
Italians hate Yugoslavs, South Africans hate the Dutch
And I don't like anybody very much

But we can be tranquil and thankful and proud
For Man's been endowed with a mushroom-shaped cloud
And we can be certain that some lovely day
Someone will set the spark off...and we will all be blown away

They're rioting in Africa, There's strife in Iran
What Nature doesn't do to us will be done by our Fellow Man