Dear Readers,

Sometimes things are so overwhelming I just want to jump in a hole and hide. Like last week.

For openers, a border squabble between Russia and Ukraine resulted in the shoot down of a commercial airliner, an act that rained down the bodies of more than 300 innocent victims into a sunflower field.

The victims include a group of scientists on their way to a conference of experts combating the AIDS virus, a respected Aussie nun, a Dutch woman who was a member of the Indiana University rowing squad, and a bunch of kids.

Did anyone say “I am sorry”? No. All sides responded to the outrage by blaming each other.

In the Middle East, Hamas has fired over a thousand rockets into Israel, triggering a fierce response. Caught in the middle on both sides of the border are lots of ordinary folks who just want to exist.

Next door to Palestine and Israel, the Syrian government has slain thousands of its own people as leaders of the rival religious sects call for murder and mayhem based on their religions version of holy scripture.

Here in the good old USA, news reports say more than 40 folks were shot over the weekend in Chicago, including a child who died.

You can turn on the radio and listen to folks railing at presidents and governors accusing them of treason, terrible torts and conspiracies linked to mysterious men from Mars, or maybe worse.

As if we didn't have enough problems with booze, at least two states have legalized pot for recreational use as advocates praise it as a miracle drug curing everything from cancer to warts, despite the lack of peer reviewed scientific studies.

At the same time, legislators in the other 48 states are salivating over a potential huge new source of tax revenue, created by the dope taxes, to fund projects ranging from playgrounds to pyramids.

Is it any wonder that thousands of folks from away have driven thousands of miles to perch on our porches, swat our mosquitoes as they gaze at our woods or waters?

Sure, we have problems here, and an occasional squabble or two, but for the most part, our neighbors get along with neighbors, street crime is mostly absent and petty. Our economic climate seems to be getting a bit better.

People are complaining about the usual irritations, like the traffic jams on Route 1. The state seems to have given up the idea of bypassing the beautiful Wiscasset village. Now they are talking about installing a traffic light to further complicate the situation.

Sometimes I wonder if Capt. Rusty Court's tongue in cheek solution to the Wiscasset traffic bottleneck — to move Red's Eats down to Biddeford — is not as outrageous as it seems.

But, in my mind, putting up with a traffic jam that makes you 10 or 15 minutes late is a small price to pay for the chance to spend time in wonderful Wiscasset, enticing Edgecomb, soothing Southport, or beautiful Boothbay.

Think about it for a moment. Where would you rather be on a summer day that is not too hot and not too cold. When the sun goes down, where would you rather be than a place where the dinner menu might just feature a steaming lobster, just a dab of melted butter and a cold bottle of beer.

And where would you rather end your day than a place where you turn off the air conditioner, open the window and fall asleep as the cool sea breeze sneaks into the bedroom and carries lots of your troubles away.