Is it just me, or are we hearing the same thing over and over again on the news?

I’m sick of hearing about the fighting going on in the Middle East, specifically in Israel and Palestine.

I s’pose it makes me that much more thankful where I live. My only biggest worry is wondering how much longer to hold off washing my truck so it doesn’t get rained on.

One of my neighbors talked to me last night about all of this fighting.

&uot;So who do you think’s at fault?&uot;

With what?

&uot;You know all this fighting. In the Middle East. With those two countries.&uot;

Oh, I dunno. They both seem kinda shifty to me.

&uot;Yeah. I think they’re both at fault.&uot;

In short, I agreed and told her both sides were to blame.

America actually did something right for a change when these events unfolded a few weeks ago.

We did nothing.

The United States. The world’s savior that has to poke its nose into everyone’s business, but can’t even keep it’s own immigration service from sending student visas to suicide bombers.

President Bush had a wait-and-see attitude and figured Ariel Sharon and Yasser Arafat could settle their differences.

But like the kindergarten teacher it is, America had to step in and offer some type of a solution to a problem that even the Maytag repairman couldn’t fix.

And I’m sure that we’ll keep seeing this country sink more and more taxpayer money into trying to help other countries settle their own differences.

Because we all know America has its priorities.

That means, for the next 10 years, I’ll keep hearing the familiar &uot;thunk-thunk … thunk-thunk&uot; each time I drive back and forth from Owatonna.

Do yourself a favor and head out to the Oak Park Mall this weekend and catch the exhibit put on by the art students at Austin High School.

Folks, these are talented artists, and the winning entries will be recognized for their accomplishments at 1 p.m. on May 22 at the high school.

If you want to attend the assembly, there’s a limited number of seats available to the public. Call 433-0400 for information.

If you can’t make it to the high school, at least come out to the mall any weekend this month.

The exhibit will be shown from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and from noon to 5 p.m. on Sundays.

All students and their teachers should be congratulated for their hard work. It’s not easy, but all can be proud for what they accomplished. This community is fortunate to have students and teachers with such dedication.

Dan Fields appears Fridays in the Austin Daily Herald. He can be reached by e-mail at dan.fields@austindailyherald.com