Dale Says

For more than 20 years I’ve been writing summaries of what’s going on in my life and in the world around me on my birthday. Here’s an excerpt from 1994 …

April 24, 1994

On my birthday I’m 43 years old.

During the past year my sense of invincibility has declined a little as a result of my arthritic knee. Up to now, I have been able to do whatever I wanted, and I was able to heal any physical problem that cropped up. Now, I’ve been told this ailment won’t go away and can’t be fixed, so I have to learn to adjust and live with it. I don’t mind the pain as much as I hate the fact that it is slowing me down.

On a more positive note, being married continues to get better each year. Patty is a great companion, and she adds so much to my life.

My family is well (four married, one grandchild) and family is becoming more important every year. We started a yearly reunion a few years back and I really look forward to them. Patty’s family is well and very busy! I’m crazy about her mother, as she’s a very kind and loving person, and I feel fortunate to have a chance to know her and spend time with her.

In the news, the U.S. economy is finally starting to look better. The Federal Reserve just raised short term interest rates to try to slow it down. California is dragging a bit, as the downsizing of the U.S. military hit California really hard.

The hot domestic topics are crime and health care. Violent crime is the number one concern throughout the U.S. and most politicians are jumping on the “tough on crime” bandwagon. Longer jail terms, life sentences (“three strikes and you’re out”), and the death penalty are much discussed subjects. Mr. and Mrs. Clinton have proposed a health care program that has bogged down in Congress. If passed, it would guarantee health care to all U.S. residents. Employers would pick up most of the tab, with consumers and the federal government paying the rest.

The Clintons are spending most of their time defending their past financial dealings. It’s ironic that the one that is the most scrutinized (Whitewater) is one in which they lost money.

South Africa is scheduled next week to hold its first ever completely free election. Everyone will get to vote, even the blacks, and it offers a hope that the widespread killing that has gone on there for too long might stop.

Russia’s economy is bad and getting worse. North Korea is developing nuclear bomb capabilities. And Japan’s economy is in a deep recession and the prime minister just resigned following a scandal.

In technology, everyone is talking about the Information Superhighway. It seems to be a communications network for purchasing, news, and finding services.

The Winter Olympics were successfully held last winter in Lillihamer, Norway. The U.S. has a few new heros following the Olympics including Nancy Kerrigan, Dan Jantzen, Bonnie Blair, and Peekaboo Street. We also have a new villian, Tonya Harding. She and her ex-husband conspired to whack Nancy Kerrigan in the knee, so Nancy couldn’t compete with Tonya in the Olympic tryouts. It was an ugly affair that left a bad aftertaste throughout the Olympics.

Richard Nixon died yesterday. He was 81 and all I could feel for him was sadness. He represented some really ugly human characteristics, but I can’t seem to work up anger at someone who tried so hard to get something that will never be given to him — he wanted to be good.

Schindler’s List was the best movie of last year. Tom Hanks did a serious movie about AIDS (Philadelphia) and won the best actor for it. Holly Hunter did likewise for The Piano.

For more than 20 years I’ve been writing summaries of what’s going on in my life and in the world around me on my birthday. Here’s an excerpt from 1993 …

April 24, 1993

On my birthday I’m 42 years old.

While I’ve become accustomed to the idea of being in my 40s I haven’t fully accepted it. I still feel like a 30-year-old, at least most days. Right now, however, I’m hobbled from knee surgery, and that has curtailed my activities somewhat. Is this a preview of what I will feel like in my 60s?

I’ve observed that I’m getting to be more like my father each year. That’s not all bad; my father is, afterall, a great guy. He’s led a very full, complete, and honest life. Unfortunately, along with some of his good qualities I seem to have also inherited his male pattern baldness.

There has been a very positive change in my relationship with Patty. We’ve now been together five years and I feel better about her all the time. I now believe I can accept her the way she is (she’s pretty wonderful the way she is) and I’ve come to realize how lucky I am to have her in my life. She has added another dimension to my personality that involves exploring new ideas and being open to meeting new people and situations.

Much of the news involves our new president, Bill Clinton. He’s been in the White House for about 100 days, and has found out it’s a lot easier to be a candidate than president. He just lost his first big battle with Congress, which killed an economic stimulus program he spearheaded. Bill is now shaking his head and wondering how he so badly misjudged Congress.

Bill’s wife, Hillary, is in charge of health care reform, and she’s getting close to proposing a semi-national health care insurance. Under her plan, employers would have to buy health insurance for all employees from giant insurance pools, which would be partially subsidized by the Federal Government. Groups are lining up on each side of the issue, with labor on Hillary’s side and business against her.

An interesting story is going around about the Clinton’s daughter, Chelsea. It seems that Chelsea arrived at school with a headache. Before giving her an aspirin, the school nurse wanted to check with her parents, to get their approval. Chelsea told the nurse, “You’d better call my dad, because my mother is too busy.”

After holding off the FBI and other law enforcement agents for nearly two months, more than 80 members of the Branch Davidian religious group are dead in Waco, Texas as a result of a mass suicide. The FBI used tanks to ram the gates of the group’s compound, then injected tear gas. Shortly afterwards a fire started that incinerated all but a few of the group inside. The FBI says the cult staretd the fire; the survivors say the FBI started it by knocking over gas lanterns. It’s a strange and very sad story.

Much of the world is in a recession. Russia, the U.K., and Scandavian countries have it the worst, and nearly all countries are devaluing their currencies and bracing for several years of slow growth. Russia seems to be in very bad shape. They are to vote tomorrow on whether to keep Boris Yeltsin as President. The U.S. has pledged billions of dollars in aid to Russia and our allies are being encouraged to do the same. It looks like it’s going to be a long and hard struggle for that country.

Social consciousness is alive and well. Hundreds of thousands of gay men and women are in Washington to march for equal rights and Clinton has vowed to eliminate discrimination against homosexuals in the military. Abortion is a sensitive issue, and there are protests and fighting on both sides. Sexual harassment is not only a hot topic, it’s now trendy to file a sexual harassment lawsuit against current or former employers. Nearly every newspaper has at least one account of a suit against a politican, athlete, or musician. The “Tailhook” case is very publicized now. In this instance, a group of navy pilots had a wild party and several female members have claimed they were sexually mistreated. Several high-ranking Navy officers have lost their jobs as a result, and it isn’t over yet.

Cesar Chvez is dead at age 66. He spent most of his life fighting for better working conditions and higher pay for immigrant workers in the U.S.

Arnold Batliner is dead at age 88. Arnold was the coin washer at the St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco for the past 30 years. His death leaves a vacancy that probably won’t be filled.

We woke to the sound of our phone ringing. It was Patty’s aunt Maxine calling from her home in Tulsa.

“Do you know where your father is?” she asked Patty.

“I thought he was with you,” Patty told her.

Maxine had dropped Paul off at the Tulsa Airport earlier that morning. He was flying to San Francisco to spend a couple of days with us before we were to go with him and Patty’s brother, Allan, on an Alaskan cruise. Maxine had driven home, turned on the news, and heard that a plane had flown into one of the World Trade Center towers in New York and that all U.S. flights were grounded.

We jumped out of bed and turned on the TV just in time to see a plane fly into the other World Trade Center tower. It was eerie — like watching a really bad disaster movie. We couldn’t believe it was really happening and I remember being frightened. No one knew how many more attacks to expect, and we were helpless to do anything about it.

Within an hour we received a phone call from Patty’s father. His plane had taken off, reached cruising altitude, then been summoned to land at the nearest airport, which was Wichita, Kansas. He had found a room in a motel there and was holed up in his room, watching the developments on TV.

We tried to reach Allan. As a pilot for Southwest, he was scheduled to fly out of Pheonix that day but his flight, like all others in the U.S., was grounded.

We called our jobs to see if everything was OK there and whether we should go to work. A recorded message told us not to come in, and to check again later in the day.

I was scheduled to speak to a group of company public relations executives from around the world at a hotel in San Francisco. I assumed the meeting was still on, so I dressed and had Patty drive me to the hotel. On the way, we noticed that many homes and businesses had already put up American flags, in a sign of patriotism and unity.

When I arrived at the hotel I found the meeting had changed into a monitoring session. Large TV screens lined the room and each was tuned to a different network, following the developments. We watched as a third plane crashed into the Pentagon, then as a fourth went down in rural Pennsylvania.

Several people were on phones, trying to determine whether any company employees were on the planes that had gone down (the two that were flown into the World Trade Center were headed for San Francisco) or in the World Trade Center buildings. My job was to try to figure out whether any of our banks or competitors had lost employees. I drafted letters to the CEOs of our two major competitors, expressing condolences and offering help, and then I began running Internet searches to see if I could find out what buildings had been damaged.

We finally called it a day mid-afternoon. Staff from San Francisco headed home to be with their families; those from out-of-town went to their rooms to call their families and monitor the news.

For the next few days we were glued to our televisions. It was a period of fear, anger, and uncertainty, but also a time of harmony. Everyone was friendly and concerned.

Looking back, the events on and after September 11 were extraordinary. For a few weeks the U.S. pulled together like never before. That unity is now gone, but in its wake is a knowledge that when we have to we can act together with a common purpose. Following such a sad and tragic series of events that’s a comforting feeling.

The first time we noticed the orange and black butterfly was at the airport when we flew home from Ines’ memorial service. It was perched on the jet way to our plane and we remember thinking it was odd to see a butterfly at an airport. When we got home we noticed another orange and black butterfly in our garden, dancing in the sun as we unpacked. It struck us then that it might be her spirit watching over us, making sure we got home safely. Now, eight years later, we’re sure of it.

There were many wonderful things about Ines. She was a selfless and giving person with an extraordinary desire to help others and the ability to make people feel everything was going to be OK. She baked cookies for sick friends, called on neighbors, and had a smile and good word for everyone she ran into.

She took especially good care of her family – cooking our favorite foods, keeping us “up-to-date,” and choosing the burnt piece of toast (saying she preferred it that way). We often heard her in the kitchen after we had gone to bed, her slippers swooshing against the linoleum floor as she prepared for the next day’s events. She told us she required less sleep than the rest of us, but the truth was she simply got less sleep.

In the fall of 2000, cancer took Ines away, half way through her 80th year. She had raised her family, traveled the world, and celebrated the new millennium. In her spare time, she had taken care of a countless number of people, and each of them believed they had a special friendship with her.

She had led a very full life.

As a reward, we think she is allowed to come back now and then to watch over the people she loved. It makes sense she would come back as a butterfly.

Ines loved butterflies and said they are God’s gift to us. She grew butterfly-friendly plants and had images of butterflies in her kitchen wallpaper and on the family room lamps. She kept watch over the butterflies in her garden and seemed at harmony with them.

Each year since she died there has been at least one orange and black butterfly in our garden – resting on the plants Ines liked most and fluttering when we’re around. And we see them wherever we travel. We spotted orange and black butterflies in the jungles of Peru, and watched a bunch play near the side of the road in the Lake District of Chile. There was a beautiful butterfly flitting around us as we cycled through Loire Valley, and they were with us as we hiked around northern California’s Juniper Lake.

Last weekend we saw the most beautiful orange and black butterfly yet. It was in our garden, hovering in the air. It came to rest on a flower near our table and sat motionless, watching us and waving its wings in the sun. Then it was off, floating on the breeze.

It affects us now whenever we see a butterfly – a warm, achy feeling. It reminds us of the love and kindness Ines had for all living things and encourages us to help make the world a brighter place. And it’s a reminder that she will always be with us, in a special place in our hearts.

About the author:

Dale Fehringer is a freelance writer and editor. His articles on people, places, and contemporary culture have been published in a variety of magazines and newspapers. He lives in San Francisco, where he shares office space with his wife, Patty, and calico cat, Molly. Dale can be reached at 415.602.6116 or by email at dalefehringer@hotmail.com.

For more than 20 years I’ve been writing summaries of what’s going on in my life and in the world around me on my birthday. Here’s an excerpt from 1992 …

April 24, 1992

On my birthday I’m 41 years old.

All things considered, this past year has been the best of my life. I have everything I could possibly really want, and more importantly I am deeply in love with Patty. I consider myself a very fortunate person to have found her.

We both love our little house! It fits us so well and feels so comfortable. The past year we’ve done a lot of painting and finishing touches, but there are still four or five major improvements pending, which we plan to tackle a couple each year.

This past year we bought a very special painting from our dear friend, Steve Watson. It’s called Patty’s Flowers, because Patty inspired it. It’s probably the best thing he’s done and Patty loves it!

My family had a reunion last May in Estes Park, Colorado, which was a wonderful opportunity for all of us to get together. We hope to repeat it each year, beginning this July 4 at Anne and Buzz’s house in Oregon.

We have seen a lot of Allan lately, as he stays with us one night a week when he’s working at NASA.

I’ve travelled a lot the past year, including work-related trips to London, Toronto, and Miami and personal trips to Hong Kong and Thailand. We met Patty’s family in Hong Kong to celebrate Paul and Ines’ 50th wedding anniversary, and then Patty and I went on to Bangkok and Phuket Thailand. We loved both Hong Kong and Thailand and were especially impressed with the gentle nature of the Thai people.

In the news, the U.S. economy is just beginning to recover from a recession that has seen two years of negative GDP growth, high unemployment, and lower consumer sales. In my lifetime I’ve never seen unemployed people and business closings like this. There are so many homeless people now — many begging and living on handouts and soup kitchens. They are on virtually every street in San Francisco, and most other large U.S. cities. I’m volunteering in a homeless shelter now, serving food to the homeless, and it’s very sad to see the same people come in for their one hot meal every time I’m there.

President Bush and Congress are doing very little about the economy and umemployment, believing that the economy will recover by itself. Many Americans are becoming frustrated with inactions by the President and Congress.

This is an election year and I think there could be a presidential change (this is Bush’s first term) if the Democrats can find someone worthwhile to run against Bush. At this point, it looks like Bill Clinton (Governor of Arkansas) is the most likely to get the nomination, but I doubt he can beat Bush. There have already been several scandals in Clinton’s past (marital infidelity, draft dodging, improper use of funds) and the media is dragging those through the mud on a daily basis.

California had a public execution last week, the first in 25 years. The man’s name was Robert Alton Harris, and he killed two teenage boys in 1978. The media is wild about the issues associated with capital punishment, and it’s been in the papers steadily since early April. I’m so sorry that with all the good things we have been able to accomplish we haven’t been able to end capital punishment and wars.

There is still no prevention or cure for AIDS. Nearly 100,000 people died from it last year, and millions now have the virus. It has gone beyond being a disease associated with drug users and homosexuals, and now others are contracting it from blood transfusions. Over the past few weeks Magic Johnson and Arthur Ashe have admitted having it and famous musicians and authors have died from it. It may be our most urgent challenge.

For more than 20 years I’ve been writing summaries of what’s going on in my life and in the world around me on my birthday. Here’s an excerpt from 1991 …

April 24, 1991

On my birthday I’m 40 years old.

This is a milestone, for sure. What an incredible year this has been! We bought the most fantastic house and moved in it last month. It’s a Victorian cottage, built in 1885, that is perfect for us! It’s only around 1,100 square feet, but has the possibility of being expanded. It’s a two-level house (the kitchen, dining room, pantry, and an office/guest room are below street level) on a large corner lot, with a detached garage, beautiful terraced garden, and a room above the garage that will someday be another guest room. It’s our dream house!

We bid on the house just before Christmas, then had to walk away from it when we went to Oklahoma for the holidays because the owner thought he would get a higher bid. When we got home there was a message on our telephone telling us the owner had changed his mind and the house was ours! We moved in the third week of March, and are just now getting settled in. There’s some work to be done and some finishing touches to be added, but we already love it! We both got what we wanted, too; Patty got her Victorian house in the City, and I got my garden. It’s going to be a lot of fun for a long time!

For the world this has also been an incredible year! The civilized world ganged up this year to beat a ruthless aggressor. “Good old Sadam” (Hussein) as President Bush calls him, took quite a licking. The Persian Gulf War, as they are now calling it, affected everyone’s lives for 108 days. We were glued to our televisions and radios from August 9, when Iraq invaded Kuwait, until March when Bush declared a temporary cease-fire and an end to the war. There was little talk during that time of anything else. Some people were discussing the possibility of drafting soldiers to supplement the half-million volunteers and reservists that were sent to the deserts of Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, and there was some talk about cancelling the Superbowl in January.

We were all pretty stunned when the war started. A lot of people I talked to were disappointed that we hadn’t advanced any further as a civilization, and that we still have to settle our differences by war. There were a lot of prayers said and a lot of very relieved people when this situation didn’t turn into a prolonged blood bath.

Patty’s brother, Allan, and his wife were activated by the Air Force and they have flown several missions to Saudi Arabia. They have transported bombs, food, tanks, and soldiers; One of Allan’s planes was full of wounded American GI’s, some as a result of a SCUD missile attack on a barracks.

For more than 20 years I’ve been writing summaries of what’s going on in my life and in the world around me on my birthday. Here’s an excerpt from 1990 …

April 24, 1990

On my birthday I’m 39 years old.

It’s hard to believe I’m 39! That was Jack Benny’s “age” and it always seemed so old to me. I somehow had a picture of myself as always being in my early 30s, so this is requiring an adjustment. It’s not that this age is so bad, because it’s not, and there are advantages, including a peacefulness brought on by maturity and experience.

The past year was a major one. In October Patty and I were married in a wonderfully romantic ceremony in Sonoma. Our friends and families joined us in what will probably be the best party we will ever attend. It was a warm and magical day and Patty was stunning in her wedding dress!

It was a busy year all around, as in addition to getting married I also moved to San Francisco and changed positions at Visa. This is all requiring adjustments, which have been relatively easy. I’m especially fortunate to have found someone like Patty, as she is very loving and we share a lot of the same interests and ideas.

A whole new world opened to me over the past couple of years. The experience of traveling to new countries is so exhilerating that it has become an obsession. Trips to England, France, and New Zealand have broadened my awareness of the variety of lives in the world and made me want to see more!

There was a major earthquake in San Francisco last October 17. We were on our honeymoon in New Zealand and didn’t experience the earthquake itself, but we lived the aftermath when we got home. There was little damage to our apartment, but our neighborhood in San Francisco was devastated. The quake took place just a few minutes before the third game of the World Series was to start between the two Bay Area baseball teams (Giants and A’s). It registered 7.1 on the Richter scale and caused more than 100 deaths and extensive destruction throughout the Bay Area. A section of the Oakland Bay bridge fell, as did a portion of the 880 expressway in Oakland. The Marina district of San Francisco (built on landfill) was severely damaged, as were parts of Santa Cruz and Watsonville. In all, there was more than $1 billion in damages.

After returning home from New Zealand, we wandered our neighborhood; many homes are damaged beyond repair, and others will take years to put bck together. Cracks in the streets and fallen houses remain as signs of how powerful the earthquake was and how much damage it caused. Everyone is pitching in to help put our wonderful city back together.

The most significant world event of the past year was the fall of the Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc. The Berlin wall came down and people have been allowed to travel freely between East and West Germany for the first time since World War II. Democratic governments have been installed in Poland and Romania and three former Soviet nations have announced their intention to leave the U.S.S.R. The Soviet economy is in shambles.

In national news, President Bush exerted his authority in December by invading Panama. Fortunately for him, he was able to accomplish his objective of deposing the leader of that country (Noreiga) and installing a “choice of the people.” Once again, the U.S. has made the world safe for democracy …

For more than 20 years I’ve been writing summaries of what’s going on in my life and in the world around me on my birthday. Here’s an excerpt from 1989 …

April 24, 1989

On my birthday I’m 38 years old.

This past year I fell in love, got engaged, started doing personal writing, and figured out what I want to do with the rest of my life. What a year!

Patty and I got engaged just before Christmas. The asking wasn’t a surprise, but the timing was. I had planned a special evening with dinner and a room at the Majestic Hotel in San Francisco. I had planned to ask her over a glass of champagne in our room after a romantic dinner. That afternoon, Patty gave blood, and then had a bad reaction afterwards and nearly passed out. I was called by the blood bank to go pick her up. She was very weak and initially thought she’d better stay in that night. So I paced the hallway in her apartment while she napped and tried to decide whether to cancel the dinner and special evening. Fortunately, she rallied and we were able to go out. She was much better after dinner and even better after a glass of champagne, so I asked her to marry me. She said “yes!” and then sealed the deal by calling her mother to tell her. It was a wonderful night for everyone! Just six months to go now until we’re married! I think we’re going to have a lot of fun together for a lot of years.

After struggling for a few years, I finally figured out what I want to do with the rest of my life — I want to experience as many of the beautiful things life has to offer as possible and describe them in writing. And now I’ve found someone else to do it with me. We’ll start this year by traveling to Europe in the summer and New Zealand this fall.

This past year brought in a new president — Reagan is out and George Bush is in. Bush is off to a rough start. When his honeymoon with Congress is over, he’s facing a Democratic-controlled House and Senate, and they want to make him look bad so they can get a Democratic president elected next time.

The last of the “Irangate” players (Oliver North) is being investigated by Congress, and he’s likely to be fried, as have been several other high-ranked government officials. The U.S. people are shocked by how deep this scandal goes, and many are losing faith in their elected representatives. We thought for awhile that Reagan might have to resign, but as with the rest of his presidency, he managed to wriggle out of this one, too.

The U.S. savings and loan industry is in big trouble. The Federal Government is trying to figure out how to come up with $300 billion to bail them out, after they made bad loans and executives pilfered billions of dollars.

U.S. banks, airlines, and telecommunications companies are busy buying each other, creating bigger and bigger companies.

The dollar continues to slide, at the government’s insistance.

Bill Walsh took the 49ers to another Super Bowl, then resigned at the end of the season. What a class act he is!

For more than 20 years I’ve been writing summaries of what’s going on in my life and in the world around me on my birthday. Here’s an excerpt from 1987 …

April 24, 1987

On my birthday I’m 36 years old.

President Reagan continues to make mistake after mistake and somehow he manages to wiggle out of trouble. The most serious (thus far) took place in late 1986. Top level administration staff were involved in selling arms to Iran in an attempt to free hostages taken and held by terrorist groups. Not only was this against stated policy of dealing with terrorists, but the profits from selling the arms were then illegally given to the Contras, a group trying to overthrow the government of Nicaragua. While these transactions were going on, Congress had expressly forbidden any government support of the Contras.

It’s been hard to track the exact circumstances of the Iran/Contra affair, as the involved people have all “taken the fifth” and refused to testify. Admiral Poindexter and Oliver North seem to be the most deeply involved.

Reagan didn’t handle his involvement very well, as he first said he didn’t know anything about either the Iran arms deal or the Contra aid deal, then he said he did know about and approved the Iran deal, then he said he couldn’t remember whether he know about it or not. At one point, he feigned laryngitis to avoid answering questions about it.

This has hurt Reagan and I’m afraid history is going to treat him badly. There is a chance for him to recover, however. Gorbachev, the leader of the U.S.S.R., wants a limited nuclear arms deal and if Reagan can pull that off it could be a good footnote for him. Charles Schultz, Reagan’s Secretary of State, is working a deal to reduce the number of short-range missles in Europe. He has a lot of scepticism in Europe to overcome, though.

Reagan faces a Democratic-controlled Congress his last two years in office. They are out to get him too, as was recently demonstrated by their override of his veto of a highway support bill. Reagan said it was “pork barrel” legislation and despite personal lobbying with Congress, his veto was overridden. (One interesting aspect of the bill allows states to increase the speed limit on some federal highways from 55 to 65 miles per hour.)

Despite generally good economic times, there are some parts of the U.S. that are suffering. The oil producing countries of the world have not figured out how to keep oil prices up, and as a result it is possible to buy gasoline for around $.80 per gallon. Parts of the U.S. that are dependent on oil are hurting badly. Texas, Oklahoma, and Colorado are examples where employment is up and housing prices and general standards of living are down. It is sad to see the numerous FOR SALE signs in Denver, for example.

The threat of AIDS is getting scary. Thousands of people are getting it every month, and the general population is starting to get nervous. Condom ads are becoming commonplace on TV and “safe sex” is being preached by religious and political leaders. The threat of catching AIDS is prompting hetrosexual people to have AIDS tests, and causing a substantial reduction in multiple sexual relationships.

For more than 20 years I’ve been writing summaries of what’s going on in my life and in the world around me on my birthday. Here’s an excerpt from 1986 …

April 24, 1986

On my birthday I’m 35 years old.

The U.S. is still reeling from two recent events: the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger and the bombing of Libya.

Seven astronauts were killed on January 28 when a leak in one of the solid fuel boosters that were to propel the Challenger into space ignited the entire spacecraft and turned it into a fiery crematorium. While a presidentially-appointed task force continues to explore the cause, the U.S. space exploratioin effort is on hold.

The Libyan bombing incident last week was the Reagan administration’s reaction to a number of recent terrorist activities which Reagan says were tied to Momar Khadafy and the Libyan government. Those terrorist activities, in European airports and a West German night club, resulted in the loss of several American lives. The Reagan administration has taken a lot of abuse in this country for “doing nothing” to stop the terrorists, and the bombing of Libya was his reaction. While it has received general support in the U.S., many of the allied nations are troubled. Anti-American demonstrations in Germany, Italy, England, and Holland indicate particular discomfort with such an aggressive response. England is the hardest hit, as they are suffering from terrorist attacks for their part in the bombings (they allowed U.S. bombers to fly from British bases to attack Libya). Just where this latest incident will take the U.S. is anyone’s guess, but for this summer (at least) Americans are afraid to travel to Europe.

The price of oil has dropped dramatically around the world. OPEC couldn’t support low production and high prices and the bottom has fallen out of their price for oil. Currently, oil is selling for around $10 per barrel, and U.S. consumers are benefiting. Last week, I paid $.71 per gallon for regular gasoline. Lower prices have driven inflation down to the point that the U.S. actually saw a deflationary C.P.I. last month.

The U.S. and U.S.S.R. are barely on speaking terms, after a relatively successful summit between Reagan and Gorbachev last November. A second summit meeting may or may not take place in the U.S. this summer. Thus far, Reagan has done nothing to encourage friendly relations, and he continues underground nuclear testing and his plans for “Star Wars.”