The balance point.

Violent Crime up for 1st time in 5 years – AP

2 shot to death on U. Washington campus – AP

Global military spending hits $1.12 trillion: report – Reuters

Man eats 47 cheese sandwiches in 10 min. – AP

* * *

As he headed up the steep slope of the ridge the rock felt hard and solid beneath his boots and the brush tugged at his legs. No trail here. The air was getting thinner with the increase in altitude and his breath was coming harder now, his pack a little heavier and its straps were damp from the exertion, but the breeze drifting up the slope was cool on his neck. Another hour to the top.

Behind him the ground fell away toward the valley far below. The valley of man… the world of noise, concrete and steel, of smoke …and headlines.

Nature greeted him at the top with a display of Her floral beauty, and at his feet, the tracks of the great bear left in the last patch of winter’s snow.

Ahead, on the far side of the divide he looked down at wild valleys clad in spring grass, mountain ridges resplendent in green and a world without the cares of man. He had arrived once again at the balance point.