Paul, an author of several New Testament books, wrote twenty centuries ago about a principle that he said he had come to recognize.  It goes like this: “Even when I want to do good, evil is right there with me.”  I take it that he was a self aware man, and that his self-awareness helped him come to terms with his natural inclination toward unhealthy things and behaviors even in the face of his stated desire to do the good thing.

South Dakotans are a resilient people by definition.  We pride ourselves on facing seasonal extremes – winters that reach 30 degrees below zero in some areas of the state, summer days that top 100 degrees at times, winds that cause us to cling to our small children, mosquitoes that cause us to cling to our small children, and spotty cell phone service (oh, the pain!).