March madness, which we in America associate with basketball and which became popularized around the world by Lewis Carroll’s character the March Hare in “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland,” is derived from the observed mating habits of the Hare. Like most of the world’s species, mating seasons are known for emotion replacing reason. Among the human variety, December babies are often the consequence.
There was much during the past month beyond basketball that would qualify as madness: Vladimir Putin disappeared for a week, perhaps to be with his girlfriend who allegedly was giving birth? Andreas Lubitz, co-pilot of a Germanwings Airbus A320 jetliner, deliberately crashed the plane he was flying into the French Alps, killing all 150 aboard, taking murder-suicide to a new level. The U.S. Ambassador to South Korea, Mark Lippert, was slashed with a razor by an assailant known to be a political extremist. Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliano questioned President Obama’s love for America. Harrison Ford was hospitalized after he crash-landed his vintage World War II plane on the Penmar Golf Course outside of Los Angeles. And Starbucks’ CEO Howard Schultz began and ended a campaign to improve race relations by having the company’s coffee cups read, “Race Together.” With a majority of the servers being African-American, while most of the patrons are Caucasian the idea, while noble, was doomed.