Because of the summer drought that have hit the plains of the Midwest United States, I did something recently that I had not done in nearly two months. I mowed my yard. Although the grasses were still pretty dormant and yellowish, the reason I mowed my yard was because the weeds, thistles, thorns and the tares were growing tall and full—and green.

Even without water, it seems that the one thing that has flourished in the drought has been the weeds, and thistles, the thorny, pesky invaders of our yards and fields. The bad seeds. The unwanted crops.

The World Health Organization recently warned, “An outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus in the Democratic Republic of Congo [DRC] risks spreading to major towns if not brought under control soon after the death toll doubled within a week” (Reuters, September 13, 2012).  Thirty-one people have died, including five healthcare workers who treated the sick.  According to a WHO spokesman in the Congo’s capital of Kinshasa, “The epidemic is not under control.

During a recent visit to Brussels, the newly elected Egyptian president, Mohamed Morsi, pledged to support democratic values, freedoms, and foreign embassies in Egypt.  In return, the EU pledged more than a billion euros in aid to Egypt.  EU President Herman Van Rompuy also promised that the “EU will stand by Egypt ‘as friend, neighbour, and partner’” (Middle East Online, September 13, 2012).

If you asked my cousin about loyalty, he would tell you about manning a machine-gun post during World War II on a Pacific Island. During an attack by the enemy, his aide deserted him and he was left to fend for himself. He was horribly wounded, and though he lived to come home, his experience left him handicapped and bitter for the rest of his life. Will trials and betrayal do the same to you?

The EU Observer just published results of a German-conducted survey that was released on September 15. Survey participants hailed from Germany, Poland and France. When asked whether their nation would be better off with their own national currency, two-thirds of Germans said “yes” to a return to the Deutsche mark. Forty-nine percent (virtually half) of Germans also agreed that they would be “better off” if the EU did not exist.