We all strive for inner peace, that sea of tranquility that allows us to function at a level where stress is at a minimum. We all search for this level, but few of us can conquer it.

Hw do you know if you have inner peace?Well, if you can start the day without caffeine,If you can always be erful, ignoring aches and painds,If you can resist complaining and boring people with your troubles,If you can eat the same food every day and be grateful for it,If you can understand when your loved ones are too busy to give you any time,If you can take criticism and blame without resentment,If you can conquer tension without medical help,If you can relax without alcohol,If you can sleep without the aid of drugs,Then, you have probably achieved inner peace. Either that, or you're THE FAMILY DOG. Think about it.And you thought I was going to get all spiritual on you.The vote to exclude wrestling from future Olympic Games is ridiculous. The sport of wrestling goes back to the origin of the Olympics.What's next to go, track and field?But don't fret. They're keeping syncronized swimming. That will keep us glued to our TV screens.Any thoughts I ever had about taking a sea cruise vanished last week when I learned about what happened on the disabled Carnival ship in the Gulf of Mexico.Penn State University has had its share of bad publicity this past year, what with the Sandusky scandal and everything.So it was good seeing the students getting some positive ink last weekend.They held a THON, a 48-hour dance marathon on campus and 16,000 people participated. What they accomplished was they raised more than $12 million for child cancer research. That beat last year's total by more than $2.Since 1973, the THON has raised more than $100 million for cancer research. Way to go, Penn State students.By far, the best sports talk show on TV is ESPN's Pardon the Interruption, with Tony Kornheiser and Mike Wilbon. But when one, or both of them aren't on, and substitute hosts are plugged in, the show's not nearly as good. Together they're a great team, and although I don't always agree with them, I always try to watch them.With gas prices showing a steady climb (a rise of 18 cents a gallon in the past week), and it's only Februrary (a time when gas prices usually dip because of less use), what can we expect when the Memorial Day holiday comes around? Don't be surprised to see $4 a gallon prices by the time summer gets here.It's a shame the nurses' quarters at the old Coaldale Hospital (now St. Luke's Hospital - Miners Campus) couldn't be preserved. The wrecking ball is going to take away what was once one of the grandest structures in the Panther Valley, one steeped with history. It's hard to imagine that a small town like Coaldale once housed its own nursing school.Here's something of interest during the Lenten season, when so many Christians are abstaining from meat.Only nine percent of the seafood eaten in the U.S. is domestically caught. Most of the fish we eat is imported.Studies show that children who watch educational TV are better behaved than kids who watch more violent shows. Does this surprise anyone?I'm ready for March Madness. Are the brackets out yet?Summit Hill, and the entire area, lost a real lady this week when Margaret Kozuch, so active all her life in the community and local politics, died at age 94. She will be missed. Margaret didn't always agree with this scribe's editorial leanings, but she was always gracious when it came time for her to present her opinions.