HELICOPTERS VS HAPPINESS

Two sounds outside your bedroom window....

One, the whir of the military helicopter transporting President Obama to and from nearby O'Hare Field. You look up with awe at the meaning of such power. But then, the symphony of robins and cardinals are also up there. For the moment, they drown out the cacophony of blades and steel. In summer the songs sing themselves, and in these fleets of nature, the entire season is playing on key.

Our President bears the inescapable burden of office; down here, still the slightest of chances another summer will mean you won't have to bear anything except for its enormous joys. Escapism...? Probably...!. But oh what a fragrant escape. When you put down the newspapers, what is left is the catechism of Louie Armstrong smiling through: "What a Wonderful World."

Untethered from the responsibility to act and attached only to the irresponsibility to feel, you're in harmony with the freedoms of the natural world. Birds in flight...squirrels and rabbits in hunt...skies June blue...winds summer soft...green perfumes that intoxicate. The Tom Sawyer so long asleep stirs. Suddenly grass is once more for lounging...trees are for climbing...and girls, well girls with long flowing hair are for studying with the greatest of attentions.

You look up at the helicopter and the astonishing power it represents. You feel guilty in thanking God you are down here with summer, not up there with duty. But only a little guilty. Because in out-of-school summers long long ago -- with friends in the parks and lunches with Mom -- you felt not a care in your world. A feeling that has desire painted on it....