HOSTAGES

Some hostages, including three Americans, were rescued from rebel guerrillas in Columbia last week. They had been held for various lengths of time up to over six years. I got to thinking about what had changed in that time. Its not that easy. Give it a try.

If you were out of contact with the rest of the world during this period, you didn't know that we attacked Iraq...that Enron Corporation had crumbled...that the iPod and the iPhone were introduced...that the Bengals actually made it to the playoffs...that a hurricane wiped out New Orleans...that Michael Jackson was charged as a child molester...that we lost seven astronauts as Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrates on re-entry...that you can't smoke in bars or restaurants...that the Oldsmobile was eliminated...that Ronald Reagan died...that Martha Stewart was in jail...that a sunami killed 200,000 people in southeast Asia...that American Idol exists...that people of the same sex are getting married...that a gallon of gasolene costs more than $2...that we have a new pope...that Jen and Brad broke up...