a voice in the wilderness

Just a question: what's the difference between a prophetic voice in the wilderness and a pathetic voice crying out? I mean, really:  with our biblical hindsight we see John the Baptist prepared the way for Jesus. In his own time, he probably seemed like an odd, irritating -- albeit pious -- crank who got his head cut off by the Empire.  In our culture which loves the individual hero, we can sometimes get confused about the strong individual swimming upstream. Sometimes we think we're being the "leaders of the free world" and fail to notice that no one is following anymore. . .perhaps because they see the cliff in front of us better than we do.

I think of this because of the news that the U.S. is now the sole holdout from a UN process to replace the Kyoto protocol with a new international agreement to fight climate change. We're the biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, and the only ones not willing to cooperate in change. I am so ashamed.

Meanwhile, it's snowing again (!) in Minnesota. I'm sure retailers think this is bad for Christmas business. I say, bring it on!