Patience

The knowledge and respect even for the smallest
will help one also to acquire patience.
What patience is needed when facing Infinity,
especially when we know its inevitability!

~Helena Roerich


Of Note: Patience has never been my long suit. Looking around, I can tell it does not run very deeply in the fiber of Humanity either. When put into the perspective of eternity, however, patience takes on a whole new meaning--one worth pondering.

Today's Weather Report: Well, it was 20 below zero again last night, but that is supposed to be the end of it for awhile. Alleluia. The days are getting noticeably longer. We had no January thaw this year, rather more of a January freeze. But at least we have power which is more than a million Kentuckians can say after their devastating ice storm this week.

News You Can Use Snippet: Liberia is experiencing a destructive caterpillar epidemic that is wiping out much of its crops. Locusts, too, are eating their way through Australia. Such insect annihilation is not uncommon. We sometimes forget that insects are much more numerous than humans--this might be their way of reminding us who's in charge. A breakthrough came this week when it was discovered that the neurotransmitter Serotonin was responsible for the swarming behavior of locusts. These are normally solitary desert creatures. But when they congregate and touch each other, Serotonin goes up five-fold and induces the group flying behavior. One scientists commented: "Serotonin profoundly influences how we humans behave and interact so to find that the same chemical in the brain is what caused a normally shy anti-social insect to gang up in huge groups is amazing." Amazing indeed.