Those of you who are of a certain age might remember a little song from the 1960s. It was a tune by the Kingston Trio with the misleading title, “Merry Minuet.” It was anything but merry, but it was a satirical song that describes some of the turmoil in the world today. It went like this:

They’re rioting in Africa. They’re starving in Spain.
There’s hurricanes in Florida and Texas needs rain.
The whole world is festering with unhappy souls.
The French hate the Germans; the Germans hate the Poles.
Italians hate Yugoslavs; South Africans hate the Dutch,
And I don’t like anybody very much.

But we can be tranquil and thankful and proud,
For man’s been endowed with a mushroom shaped cloud.
And we know for certain that some lovely day
Someone will set the spark off and we will all be blown awa…