J. Davy Crockett III

“Going green” is all in vogue, as the need to conserve—and the practicality of recycling—becomes even more compelling in crippled economies around the world. Things that were once thoughtlessly discarded are now often repurposed or recycled. More energy-efficient methods of doing daily chores and routine tasks are being sought at every level. It just makes good sense to do some of these things.

We seem to make too few friends as we go through life. The friends you have in childhood and in high school are often just a memory, as life and the demands of making a living unfold and the years roll by. As adults, we have business associates, co-workers, casual acquaintances, and the like, but usually few deep, abiding friendships.

A legacy can be a wonderful thing. Webster's Collegiate Dictionary defines legacy as "A bequest, a gift by will; something received from an ancestor or predecessor." A legacy could be property or financial assets, great literature or works of art, or something more transcendental, such as a good name, a wonderful example, or a philosophy of life and how to live it.

In this time when we are all being urged to "go green" in every part of our daily lives, we may lose sight of the word picture painted in Psalm 23, which is probably the most oft quoted Psalm in the Bible. I like the way it is expressed in the old English hymn by William Havergal, a well-known writer of hymns (1793–1870).

The torrent of sickening images of death and destruction in Haiti just keep on coming. Search and rescue operations have become grisly recovery operations, as the dead are removed from the rubble of collapsed buildings.