IN 1992, BLESSED NATION REDISCOVERS ITS HUMANITY

Nineteen ninety-two ends today, longer than most years (by a day) and possibly seeming like it. It was a year marked by discontent with government, authority and the status quo generally as well as achievement. We can't abide by Queen Elizabeth II's estimation of 1992 as a dreadful dozen months, nor do we mourn too greatly its passing. We generously concede the year was eventful and note its end with a flick of a calendar rather than with melancholy.

Our nation is sound enough to withstand significant upheaval, and this year it was tested. Disgruntled citizens fueled a movement toward limiting the terms of public officeholders, and it became law in Missouri. Texas billionaire Ross Perot symbolized the electorate's dissatisfaction with his high-profile (if low-yielding) run for the presidency. In Los Angeles, festering racial tensions boiled over in deadly riots last spring. Closer to home, citizens of Cape Girardeau showed their opposition to municipal government's workings by voting to change the way city council members are elected.

(As a bit of perspective, these fragments of discontent pale next to calamities on the international front. With anarchy starving thousands in Somalia, "ethnic cleansing" butchering countless others in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Saddam Hussein still practicing his own brand of evil in Iraq, America's disagreements seem of the low-intensity sort.)

For all of America's tribulations in 1992, things got done. The process of elected representation functioned. The economy improved. Mistakes were made, and no doubt they were learned from. (The give and take of lesson learning marches ever on.) Locally, infrastructure was upgraded (Lexington Avenue and the Cape LaCroix flood control project are examples) and new commercial enterprises found reasons to do business in Cape Girardeau and the area.

The year does nothing to dissuade us from the view this is a blessed nation. Americans weathered storms natural and man-made, and found within themselves a reason to reach across an ocean and help unfortunate others. Despite all that is controversial and capricious in our national existence, a fundamental humanity rises above all shortcomings. The year we conclude this day affirms that humanity.

(In Sunday's edition, the first of 1993, this Opinion space looks ahead to the coming 12 months.)