In ancient times, fables were told of the land of milk and honey, a wonder and a fantasy to the people of the times. For if your daily meal is thin gruel, earned by the sweat of your brow, surely a land of milk and honey was heavenly, Elysian. Well, we are the privileged inhabitants of such a land as the ancients only dreamed of. We have walk-in 24-hour cornucopias, where milk is cheaper than water, and honey from many lands fills the shelves. Such wealth and abundance as the world has never seen!

Indeed, so wealthy are we that we throw away vast quantities of milk - between January and August of this year, over 43 million gallons of milk have been dumped. This, the largest quantity of milk wasted in sixteen years, is the result of a glut caused by the combination of efficient farmers (consolidation and better cow breeds) and soft markets, especially foreign markets. And it's not only milk - the U.S. currently has 1.2 billion Lbs. of surplus cheese in cold storage - enough to give three pounds to every person in America.

Strange times indeed. We live in abundance beyond the wildest dreams of the ancients, yet fret and whine over vanities.