Peace to the world

It's a quiet, peaceful night in my little world. Jacob is watching TV and when I suggested we do something, anything, he protested, "I'm happy." So I've let him be. Scooby is happily in his bed, and Wywy sitting on my desk, a sure sign he wants more food.
Our snow has melted except one stubborn patch on the sidewalk leading up to my north-facing house. At one point in the late morning I swear the thermometer in my car told me it was 64, but I can hardly believe that. The other stubborn patch of snow, about three feet just before the garage door, is gone. But if it isn't one thing it's another. We lost water for about three hours this afternoon--a water main broke near the hospital district (which isn't far from our neighborhood)--I wondered and worried if the hospitals also lost water.. And what provisions do they have for that contingency. It's fixed tonight, and all is well. When much of Texas had rolling blackouts, we were spared and I wondered if it was due to our proximity to the hospitals.
As I sit in my own quiet world, I think of the unrest spreading across Arabic countries (and others where dictators rule). Apparently dictators round the world are getting nervous--a good sign. It was wonderful today to see on TV that a peaceful revolution had ousted Mubarak--it was peaceful on the part of the protestors, who only fought when attacked by what seem to have been hired goons. One can't help think of Gandhi and Martin Luther King--peaceful means triumph again. Prayers for those who were killed or injured, but still it was a remarkable show of peaceful protest. Now of course the long road--what will happen to Egypt? And how will this affect the entire Arab world? We live in interesting times, and we have just seen history made.
Texas, as always, provides an ironic contrast: it seems some of the parents of the Mansfield ISD object to a Bush-era plan to teach Arabic culture and language to students. Their timing is impeccable--and so wrong. Mansfield is also the district that had a notable protest against integration of schools in in the late '60s. I guess some people never learn, and as someone pointed out to me preaching--or even rational explanation--does no good because their minds are made up and closed. What scares me is that they are passing that attitude along to their children. One parent wrote indignantly that parents know what's best for their chldren to learn, which makes about as much sense as our Texas Board of Education, which is appointed and includes not one professional educator. I love Texas, but sometimes I really really want to leave.
A funny note: my friend Jeannie Chaffee is working endlessly on her family geneaology and announced today that she had traced one side of her family back to Robert the Bruce of Scotland. I told her that makes us cousins--I'm pretty sure that in my reading about Scottish history and the MacBain clan that we have a connection to Robert the Bruce (what a wonderful name!). Jeannie wonders if she'll soon start talking with a brogue--I told her she could do worse.