Nothing balances death like an affirmation of life. Father Reagan had a significant impact on many of us here in Carrollton, far beyond the Catholic community. Alors, and "Cheers" on your journey, Father. May the road rise to meet you. May the wind be always at your back. The sun shine warm upon your face. The rain fall soft upon your fields. And until we meet again May God hold you in the hallow of His hand.

I have returned from my vacation. Bimini is indeed a wonder. The "island in the stream" that Hemingway called home for three years. The island where Gary Hart found Donna Rice, and thus his downfall. The island where Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., found refuge from congressional attacks. The island where Ponce de Leon "found" the fountain of youth. The island where Dr. Hannibal Lector found his escape, and possibly dinner...

I flew from Miami in a 1947 Grumman Mallard seaplane, updated with turbo-prop engines, but the feeling had to be the same as 50 years ago. I could read the altimeter, and noticed that we reached less than 4000 feet over the Gulf Stream, through the Bermuda triangle. The deep blue of the ocean is a color Ford has tried to match in their automobiles, but no one can exactly match that majestic color. I stayed at the "Compleat Angler Hotel", a 12 room inn, built in the 1930’s, complete with a Hemingway museum, and bragging to be Hemingway’s home on the island. Wonderful old photographs and stories lined the walls of visits and fishing trips to be dreamed about.

Since the island is only 6 miles long and 700 yards wide, I rented a bicycle for transportation. Absolutely beautiful. The beaches are pristine, full of conch shells, bordered by the gin-clear water, turning magical shades of blue and green as the depths change.

On returning, I described my trip to my son Andy, wise beyond his years, and he made several comments, which I agree with. "Education, after all, isn’t that what vacations are all about?" he ask. "The world is the best classroom, right?" He continued, "I am afraid there are never enough windows in the usual classroom, right? All kinds of wonderful fishes." Always learning.

A "vacation" can be as inexpensive as a trip to the local library. There is so much to learn and experience. I received the following via internet:

THE EARTH - If we could shrink the earth's population to a village of precisely 100 people, with all the existing human ratios remaining the same, it would look something like the following. There would be:

57 Asians

21 Europeans

14 from the Western Hemisphere, both north and south

8 Africans

52 would be female

48 would be male

70 would be nonwhite

30 would be white

70 would be non-Christian

30 would be Christian

6 people would possess 59% of the entire world's wealth and all 6 would be from the United States

80 would live in substandard housing

70 would be unable to read

50 would suffer from malnutrition

1 would be near death; 1 would be near birth

1 (yes, only 1) would have a college education

1 would own a computer

"When one considers our world from such a compressed perspective, the need

for both acceptance, understanding and education becomes glaringly

apparent."

Phillip M Harter, MD, FACEP

Stanford University, School of Medicine.