Don Davis

Have you ever been at the edge of a deep canyon, or the observation deck atop a tall skyscraper? Do you recall the sense of uneasiness you felt when you peered down into the abyss below?

Very few men and women are "self-made" individuals. We all have had the help of many people as we have traveled along life's road. Perhaps it was our parents, a friend or a teacher, who gave us the love, help and guidance we needed to become who we are today. Without these caring individuals, our lives would be markedly different. Many people may offer us their help. But how we react to their offers of aid can make all the difference between success and failure in our lives.

In the realm of economics, as the United States goes, so goes the world. America has long been considered the economic engine that has driven global finance. However, that engine has been running on credit.

These days, it seems it is "every man for himself." Every woman, too. Our society has fractured into innumerable special interest groups seeking advantage for their constituencies. As America's "ship of state" sinks under ever-worsening economic conditions, conservatives and liberals are clawing for space aboard the shrinking number of lifeboats, hoping to survive the storm-tossed waves of fiscal and social disaster. Selfish interest and party spirit will bring the United States—and the other Western democracies—to ruin, unless citizens can recapture the standards that once upheld their nations, and can begin looking to God rather than to politicians for the answers. "You shall not at all do as we are doing here today—every man doing whatever is right in his own eyes" (Deuteronomy 12:8).

Hospitals and other inpatient facilities are fighting a new, life-threatening intestinal super-bug, Clostridium difficile, which played a part in approximately 150,000 infections in 2000, and caused nearly 300,000 hospitalizations in 2005 (Associated Press Medical, May 28, 2008). This dangerous germ, which is spread by spores in feces, is said to have contributed to at least 5,500 deaths in the United States in 2004.