One of the great teachers of my life, the once Jesuit priest Ivan Illich (d. 2002), once said, "I have no interest in 'saving the planet,' but I have every interest in walking decently on the earth." This was not, as it might sound, a statement against the environment. The author of Energy and Equity could hardly be said to lack environmental concern. The statement was, instead, a call for perspective, proportion, and attention to the real in a life. There's no such thing as everything. One can't take it all in. One can live where one is, aware of the world around but not overly caught up in distorted dramas that may or may not represent much of what is. And so it's perspective I want to write about this week. It comes to mind because of the events of the past days that have gotten so much press beginning with the brutal killing of the U.S. Ambassador to Libya and three with him on September 11. Demonstrations of varying sizes...