It will take some brilliant thinking, a collection of diamond minds, to ever hope to bring us back to blue skies, nothing but blue skies, all day long. We enjoyed that in our happy days youth, before all the modern progress. Then, it seems, we matured away from the massive amounts of humanity that traveled by train up into the 1950 era. Never since has America or the world had more people on the move, on the train, on their way from coast to coast with no refrain.

Diamond minds comes to us rarely, and to enjoy any quality lifestyles were a challenge during the lifetime of Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519). Events that unfolded during these years created general boundaries for the modern world new and old. By then a fellow citizen of what would become Italy had opened up a new world, while Leonardo was some times forced to move to Avignon in France while armies of Florence fought off Venice who fought them all off.

Healthy lifestyles have been on the news today. First we saw a video of a day in the newly created city of ten million people people on the Pearl River delta near Hong Kong in China. We see a before photo of a quiet rice farming valley, and then as it is now. a valley of high tower buildings with a massive harbor, apparently with that vast harbor in Japan, now largest harbor in the world.

The power in this story is that this happened 230 years before the birth of Christ and Christianity, and that many more years before before the birth of Mohammed and Islam. But it was within the time that we knew disciples, or followers of Buddha had arrived this far west, and had certainly reached Egypt to Greece, as Aristotle to Alexander, and it trickles down to us.

Greek and Chinese antiques history has both had a wise and kind, or arrogantly powerful leadership. However, unlike Greece, China has always been imperial. Emperor or Chairman, all rules come from within the walls of the forbidden city and must be obeyed, or shame, pain, and death will follow you and your family into the grave.

Socrates drank his cup of hemlock for saying too much truth, but the people of Athens, disgusted, punished those Ruling 30 and soon all were in disgrace, banned or dead.

So, here you are in a Greek antiques shop far north of Athens but still in Greece, in Macedonia. You Hold two figurines: one of a Greek Amazon Female Warrior, the other a model of an princess from Persia.

You wonder what these two have in common, so you ask the shop keeper. It is a quiet moment, so he sits you down and makes you a cup of tea, and tells you his story.

Greek Antiques heroes, like later American heroes, have always been of a sort who were more a Jefferson or a Lincoln in mind and soul. They seemed to rise to the occasions of most dire need for their times, and speak their truth so clear and clean and pure that all could remember and also bring into their own heart and rise in their own souls, and be and feel the better for it.

American antiques history has shown before how America has expanded confidently into the world, and then shrunk back in on itself, becoming fearful of the outer world. That fear helped make of a market hiccup in 1929 a lost decade for the world. Many studies have concluded that most of the silliest decisions possible had been made by all parties involved.

The times they are changing, daily, as events around the world arrive to us so much more than ever before. Events of protest in Tibet come to us live, as does activities and horrors from everywhere on earth now. We have today watched the British channel interview, from the back, three women who live in that hell hole on earth run by a hateful fool, Zimbabwe.

To watch the news from the middle east can be so painful. We can feel our hearts ache for those dying and being blown apart each day, we can despair, or still search for ways to stop the bloodshed. How we can best apply a kind and wise use of compromise and decision to create fair agreements that all can abide by is still nowhere in sight.

Perhaps it is near time that we all take one step back from their wall building actions, which do not seem to be working as hoped for.