Editorial May 29, 1989 Issue

Seeing through the mist

Michael D. Rissler

It's early in the morning. Outside my window darkness lingers. It's quiet. These hours are probably the only time when you can walk through the neighborhood and not see the luminescent glow of television. The morning newspaper that calls for attention has not yet arrived. It's a good time for reading and pondering other things.

A few minutes ago I finished reading something that was written eighty-seven years ago. The year was 1902. It's not a year that immediately stands out. The only thing I could at first associate with that year was the end of the Boer War in South Africa.

A little research brought some other events to light. The United States Congress authorized financing and building of the Panama Canal in 1902. Colombia refused to recognize Panama's declaration of independence. The Triple Alliance between Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy was renewed for another six years. Arthur James Balfour became the British prime minister that year. The Balfour Declaration of later years would play a principal role in the formation of a Jewish state in Palestine.

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