I was recently given the opportunity to do some hiking in the Great Smokey Mountains. We had decided we wanted to see Rainbow Falls, which boasted of dazzling rainbows if you were fortunate to be there as the sunlight hits the water cascading from a high drop.

The trail map claimed the trail we needed to take was only 2.7 miles long one way, and it was labeled as “strenuous.” I scoffed; my weekly trips to my air-conditioned local gym for my 30-minute jog on the treadmill had surely prepared me for this moment. Strenuous was nothing! A little bit of stretching and we were off!

On washday, despite all the modern conveniences available, some of us who do laundry still do not use a mechanical dryer. For one reason or another, we prefer to hang it out on a line to dry.

That is the end of a busy process. Before washing, we check the laundry over for spots and, where possible, treat them beforehand. We add detergent, sometimes bleach, to lift dirt and brighten the laundry. Then it is agitated to ensure that our clothing gets as clean as possible.

According to a new survey by The Global Slavery Index, “Nearly 36 million people in 167 surveyed countries live in modern slavery,” which is almost double the estimates of a 2012 survey (The Washington Post, November 18, 2014).

“North Korea threatened Thursday to bolster its war capability and conduct a fourth nuclear test to cope with what it calls U.S. hostility that led to the approval of a landmark U.N. resolution on its human rights violations… to refer the North’s rights situation to the International Criminal Court” which could lead to North Korea’s absolute leader Kim Jong Un being targeted as a criminal in the coming weeks (Reuters, November 20, 2014).

In a recent interview, the Soviet Union’s former premier Mikhail Gorbachev warned “The world is on the brink of a new Cold War. Some are even saying that it has already begun” (Agence France-Presse, November 8, 2014). He cautioned, “Let us remember that there can be no security in Europe without German-Russian partnership” (ibid.).