ROUNDABOUT PALES AGAINST LOCUST STORM

While heat and humidity suffocate much of Missouri and Cape Girardeans stew over a roundabout, locusts are descending upon Russia. A small story in Tuesday's newspaper reported they are eating through one to two miles per hour. But they've yet to grow wings. Once these crawling insects evolve to flying creatures, they will be able to travel hundreds of miles in a day.

Many Americans living today remember the Great Depression's Dust Bowl. Russia has been suffering through economic agricultural times harder than America's Great Depression for more than a decade.

And now: locusts.

It kind of puts modern American hardships into perspective. We complain that a roundabout is too tight. Californians fume that they pay too much for electricity.

When I lived abroad in the early 1990s, I traveled from Moscow to the Black Sea port city of Odessa in a "modern Russian train." Since it was a "modern" train, the windows on the cars were sealed shut in order to keep air-conditioned air from escaping into the southern heat. Since it was Russia, the air conditioning itself didn't work.

At times the heat outside during this 18-hour trip surpassed 90 degrees. I never found out how hot it became inside. But it was so powerful and the body odor of the travelers so heavy that I came to call my cabin the "dragon's lair."

As the only American on the train (I later learned that if I had taken a train catering to international travelers, working air conditioning would have been assured), I quickly became popular with the natives. Rarely were there fewer than eight people in the small room I already shared with three others.

And, concerned that if I ever fell asleep all my bags would disappear, there was little rest throughout the trip.

Instead, my visitors pulled small bottles of vodka -- or a perilous home brew called samagone -- from their bags, and we drank to druzhba (friendship). Needless to say, my tolerance for alcohol was severely tested on this trip, and it failed (although I never did pass out).

During all the time I was in Russia, I learned most Russians would soldier forward in difficult times. For some, trouble was so expected that it was the good event that became uncomfortable.

Here in the United States, we have learned to expect to be comfortable.

Too hot outside? Then turn down the air conditioner.

Electricity cost too much? Then demand the government to subsidize electricity prices.

Roundabout too tight? Then let's rebuild it.

For the record, I agree the roundabout as originally constructed was too tight. Since this expert construction was paid for with our tax money, it's proper to voice criticism. Indeed, it's wonderfully American to criticize government. Expecting the best holds U.S. bureaucracy accountable and keeps our society pushing forward.

At the same time, learning how to do something new shouldn't be considered a hardship.

Now the Cape Girardeau City Council has approved widening the roundabout. Once this work is completed -- at $10,000 additional expense, the new challenge will be ours, because the rest of the intersection needs to be opened.

Will we be able to handle this hardship?

There are worse things in the world to confront.

Jon K. Rust is co-president of Rust Communications.