A ray of hope?

"Sir, you could play this nut ball like a grand piano. Let's help his people and forget about him. His genetics are flawed when it comes to peace. The people in that starving country however, deserve much better."

This is not an eclipse story, but the idea for it happened at the viewing. A young man with awesome camera gear and four kids was parked right next to us. He had driven up from where they lived in south Texas. He and his wife did home schooling for their kids, so there were many reasons why they came all the way up to Nebraska to see this awesome totality. One of the the reasons was to show the kids the heartland. Where much of their food comes from. When I heard that I thought - what a very smart idea!

As we were waiting for the eclipse to start, he and I and talked about numerous things - mostly politics and the geopolitical situation in the world today. We talked about the bountiful harvest in this country. I told him some statistics from previous blog posts I have done. How much we grow, how much we export, and how much we give away to struggling countries. But once he found out I was a retired crypto guy (well, he asked what I did in the Navy), he was all over this North Korea issue.

He was worried about what this nut ball in North Korea could do to our country. He of course, is worried about his kids. And why not? I love most all kids, but his kids were exeptionally cute, precocious and very, very smart. He just wanted to make sure no harm came to them because of this lose cannon a half a world away. 

I had told him earlier about the devastating drought that North Korea was having this year. He looked at me and said, "Why can't we trade some of our excess food, because the fields going on forever here (and they really do!), for him to behave himself. Maybe give up his weapons and choose peace." 

Bingo! We could eliminate North Korea in one hour with one Trident submarine. Turn it into a huge poisoned piece of glass. Or - we could transform North Korea into the community of nations. A country dedicated to human advancement rather than mutual extermination. For us - we could feed people which really need to be fed. That would be step one. A real ray of hope.

This is the irony. In this middle of a shooting range (yes, I had my .357 with me), just north of Grand Island (yes, that is where we viewed the eclipse), something other than shooting and killing was being discussed. Not to sound trite, but we talked about "beating swords into plowshares". In other words, giving people a chance at abundant life rather than a fiery death. I really did like where this conversation was going.

I will say this as one negotiator to another. President Trump - pull out your strongest suit on this deal. You have something the Norks so desperately need. The nut ball who runs the country does not care about the carrot and the stick. He wants the stick so he can go out in a blaze of whatever. The people however, deserve better. They are just like us. They want to raise a family, have food on the table, heat in the winter time.

Sir, you could play this nut ball like a grand piano. Forget about this twerp. Let's help his people and not him. His genetics are flawed anyhow. The people in that starving country however, deserve much better. We can help them. We should do it now.