Vladimir the Sublime, Donald the Magnanimous, Perhaps

IT IS NOT ALWAYS NECESSARY to be negative, cynical, defensive. Even amid all our troubles there comes a time to be lighthearted. There comes a time to assume the best in people, to give others the benefit of the doubt. Out of the blue, Vladimir Putin appears to have ascended to a higher level of awareness, a higher level of being. In response to Obama's sanctions, Putin will do, nothing. No retaliation of any sort, contrary to what his advisers had strongly suggested. What kind of a trick is this? Is it simply a way of waiting for Trump? Or has Mr. Putin risen to a higher level of thought? has Vladimir the KGB man come to know the real Jesus ? And if so, wouldn't it be wonderful if the rest of us could do the same? Maybe Mr. Putin could show us how. Einstein once suggested that a good way to end warfare once and for all and to end militarism would be for everybody to refuse military service. Everybody in the world, refuse to serve in the military. That'd do the trick, all right. Or the United Nations could agree to establish a single, all purpose, United Nations military, in which all nations participate. But you just know that Putin's peaceful approach to Obama has some kind of hidden trick behind it, and that when Trump takes over in the U.S., Putin and Trump will get along splendidly at first, and it may even continue for awhile, but that, eventually, sooner or later, problems are going to start developing. Wouldn't it be wonderful if Trump the chump suddenly acquired the wisdom of Solomon, the love of Christ, and the genius of Einstein, and became known as the greatest leader of all time, bar none? Or maybe Trump will inform us that his comment about building more nukes was a joke. Instead, probably, problems are going to start developing, grow worse, and result in a complete angry break down in communication and relationship, between Putin and Trump, between Russia and the U.S., and between Trump and heaven only knows who else. Maybe Putin is evolving into an enlightened being, and maybe, somehow, miraculously, Trump will do likewise, and all will be well, but somehow, it just doesn't seem likely.