J. Davy Crockett III

As summer winds down and autumn approaches, millions of youngsters are getting ready to go back to school. Some have already started. Most of them, from elementary school age to high school students, are eagerly looking forward to the many activities of the school year. Of course, there are a sizeable number who dread it like the plague; at least that is what they tell their parents and friends.

As summer unfolds in the Northern hemisphere, most of the United States of America is baking in a protracted heat wave that is putting the power grid to the test and placing real stress on people, plants and animals. These punishing, record-breaking temperatures seem to be stalled over a wide area. At the same time, these same areas have experienced a dramatic decline in rainfall.

A generation ago, Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936) enthralled audiences around the world with epic poems, short stories and novels. His experiences growing up in British-controlled India provided a rich source of colorful folklore and inspiration for children’s stories, such as the Jungle Book. Kipling received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1907.

Of all of his many poems, my favorite is the inspirational poem If, which he wrote in 1895. It poses questions or conditions on how one develops the qualities of good character and balance embodied in a successful life.

A power outage, however brief, causes a lot of consternation. Lights go out, computers are down, refrigeration ceases and life as we know it with all our modern conveniences grinds to a halt. This happened in our city recently during a busy lunchtime, disrupting the schedules of thousands of people who were having their noon break. Restaurants and other enterprises lost business and customers went hungry. Happily, the power outage lasted only a short time, but long enough to remind everyone how dependent we are upon the power grid that supplies our communities.

Just imagine winning a prize of hundreds of millions of dollars with the only investment being a tiny piece of paper no larger than a book of stamps. This prospect of winning great wealth for just a few bucks, as pathetically remote as it is, often results in a frenzy of activity when the lottery shoots up—a frenzy that fuels itself. Especially huge numbers, such as the 2012 lottery of $640,000,000, grab headlines as wishful thinkers endure lines to purchase tickets hoping to get in on “The Poor Man’s Tax,” no matter the infinitesimal odds of winning.