As 2001 commences I was at a loss as to what to complain about: the election, our new President? the impending loss of all the forest land that might yield oil or hard wood? the Taleban’s constant, deadly repression of women? the beating of a teenage girl in Nigeria for getting pregnant out of wedlock? The traffic on the 405? It was all so overwhelming that I decided to concentrate on something that might have a snowball’s chance in hell of being rectified.

   So here it is, I got married last year on Halloween and I have this to say: RSVP cards, return them. If someone goes to the trouble to invite you to something nice enough that it has formal invitations with RSVP cards that are pre-stamped and all you have to do is mark yes or no on the card seal it in the PRE-STAMPED ENVELOP and mail it, just do it. This small stab at being polite and following cultural norms may go a long way towards making the world a better place to be in. At least I would like to think so.

Carlye Archibeque
IRS Editor