Happy Times?

I spent most of this morning doing the kind of toiling writing that really feels like work: revising some copy for a client then editing my sister's English paper on Twelfth Night (which I've never read, making it even more like work). Once I finished all that, I prepared myself for my daily slog through the blogosphere. And I was pleasantly surprised.

Somewhere amid new reports of anti-Semitism in the Netherlands and the disgrace that is the UN these days, there was a bright spot: something good is happening in North Korea. No one seems to know exactly what to make of these recent developments, but any news like this seems like good news to me (unless it's some sort of devilish trick to lull the US into thinking positive thoughts about Kim Jong-il - which I sincerely doubt).

Just recently, on the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, I made a special dinner and spent the whole day feeling very good about how the world's improved during my lifetime (not that I ignore the problems of international relations every day, just that day). The fall of the Wall made a huge impression on me as a ninth-grader - and I still get the chills when I hear the Jesus Jones song Right Here, Right Now. This morning, reading about North Korea gave me that special little glow that I usually reserve for former Eastern bloc countries.

I hope the glow has reason to last.