Conversations with Calliope- Service or Power

(Troubled Seas- Peter Langen)

JOE: Good morning Calliope.
CALLIOPE: Good morning Joe. How are Dreamweaver and your website coming along?
JOE: I'm making progress and will let you know when it's finished.
CALLIOPE: Sounds like you have something else on your mind this morning.
JOE: I do. Reading the paper earlier about all the posturing and infighting in Washington and Albany, I recalled the saying, "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely."
CALLIOPE: I remember the saying. What was the context?
JOE: I wondered that myself. It turns out that John Acton said it in response to Pope Pius IX promulgating the dogma of papal infallibility.
CALLIOPE: I didn't realize that.
JOE: Neither did I. But it fit right in with my thoughts about our legislatures.
CALLIOPE: How so?
JOE: They were elected to serve their constituents but now the New York State and Federal legislators both appear too busy with their power struggles to get anything done for the public benefit.
CALLIOPE: That's a pessimistic conclusion for you to express.
JOE: I agree. I try to see the positive in any situation, but I'm still looking in this case.
CALLIOPE: Do you suppose it's another of life's mysteries?
JOE: I suppose so. But somehow I have trouble letting it go at that. Talk with you tomorrow.

Military or Peace Bases

I was reading recently about opposition to expanding our military bases in Italy. I thought about this and realized that we have military bases all over the world. Although some people are comforted by them, others find them threatening and fear our power. I began to wonder what would happen if we had peace bases instead of or in addition to military bases. They could be models of cooperation and caring for each other. While our country has a strong bellicose history, we also have experience helping other people. Our peace bases could be places where we listened to and learned to understand others. We might also learn something about ourselves and stress compromise rather than imposing our will on others. "People say that I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one."