Merry Minuet

Many years ago, in the folk song era, the Kingston Trio recorded a song called "Merry Minuet," which I have thought of many times in the past weeks.

After I woke up to hear that Turkey had shot down a Russian plane over Syria this morning, I thought about it even more.  The whole world is going crazy.  I decided to check on the attacks that have taken place just in the last month.  This is not all of them, but it gives you an idea.

• Paris is attacked
• Turkey fires on Russian jet
• The US State Department has issued a rare global travel alert for possible travel risks due to “increased terror
• Brussels is on lockdown and highest terror alert and Thursday’s Europa league match between Club Brugge and Napoli will be played behind closed doors in Brugge, Belgium’s Jan Breydel Stadium after the city’s mayor cited increased security concerns amid ongoing terror threats.
• 12 were killed and more than a dozen injured in an explosion in a bus carrying Tunisia's presidential guard.  It is considered a terrorist attack by Isis.
• 4 killed and 12 injured by a suicide bomber at hotel in Egypt where judges overseeing Egyptian parliamentary elections staying
• Suicide bombs by the Islamic State in Beirut kills 43
• There was an Al Quaeda attack at a hotel in Mali. >2 Dozen killed, 100 held hostage
• 12 killed in suicide bomb in Mogadishu
• 48 killed, 80 wounded by Boko Haram in Nigeria
• Boko Haram suicide bombs in Chad and Cameroon
• 2 killed in suicide bomb in Sarajevo by Salafi movement (an ultra-conservative orthodox movement within Sunni Islam)
• 31 killed in bombings in Baghdad
• 4 killed, 24 injured in bombing in Philippines, part of Moro conflict (part of the ongoing civil conflict)
• 7 killed, 3 wounded suicide bomb in Yemen
• Xenophobia is running rampant across the United States
• Demonstrations in Chicago after indictment of policeman...5 demonstrators were shot (since 2001, more Americans have been killed in Chicago than in Afghanistan and Iraq combined--residents of the south side of Chicago refer to it as "Chi-raq")

And then there's Israel...
Terror attacks by numbers (as of November 24):
74 stabbings
10 shootings
12 car rammings

The whole world is, indeed, festering with unhappy souls.  Friends of ours planned a trip to Turkey to celebrate their anniversary, and have changed and are now going to Japan, which, at last count, has not had any terror attacks or threats.


If there is anything to be thankful for as we approach Thanksgiving is that our cruise is over, we are home, Davis is an unlikely terrorist attack, and we have no plans to travel anywhere in the foreseeable future.