We are all sitting in a state of disbelief due to the recent circumstances that happened in the States. How anyone could could have done such an evil act of hatred is beyond me. Everyone has a theory on how this could have been avoided. Did we get too comfortable? I think I have a solution as to how this could have been avoided. It's rather simple really. The world should take on the same rules and beliefs that is expected of one on the road.

A tour bus generally has 12 bunks on it. Sometimes you have a full bus, other times you get the luxury of having only 6 to 8 guys. Sometimes it gets really silly and you go past the magic number 12 and end up with 13 or 14 people. If you have done a rap or country tour you are familiar with this custom. When you start a tour the sleeping spaces aren't just up for grabs. The person with the most seniority gets to choose their sleeping quarters first. Not only that, the bunk is a respected private domain. No one shall enter a persons bunk without permission from the inhabitor. If the countries in the world were bunks we wouldn't have any conquering going on. Our world leaders would know that the respected bunks (countries) were private domain, and that's the way it would stay. You can't go in to another country and grab resources etc. unless you ask for permission.

If you have experienced life on a tour bus, you know that it's easy to create a scene from Twister. Stuff piles up everywhere. The general consensus is to keep your personals in your bunk, closets, the bay of the bus or the junk bunk. Once again our world leaders could learn a lot from this. Imagine keeping their garbage inside the countries' borders. There would be no need for espionage, because the world leaders would respect each others bunks for the simple fact that everyone's personals have been left in their bunk.

Now that we see the similarities in the bus life, what about the gig? Well, the first golden rule is do your gig. In other words, don't worry about your neighbor. He's been hired to do a job to its' completion. Again, let's see how our world leaders DON'T follow that concept. If every country dealt with their own, the world would be a great place. In the touring industry some people have more to do than others. They take up more space or have more responsibilty. Some countries are larger than others, so they have more to do, and they take up more space. This shouldn't be a bad thing, it just means that the smaller countries have a smaller crew in their department. Now having said that, the division in departments stands strong until a department is in trouble. By trouble I don't mean something that would hold up that department, ie troubleshooting etc. The fact is a lighting guy probably couldn't fix a speaker or vice versa. If an individual has an emergency, or is sick, the rest of the crew would jump in to help. If the local crew walks, the touring crew normally unites to get the show out of the venue. Again world leaders could learn from this theory.

One golden rule on the road is, don't tell fellow crew members what you are earning. Everyone makes their own deal. So, what one country settles with another country should have nothing to do with a third country. The fact that one country has a better trade agreemnet than another, is solely up to that country.

If a couple of crew members have issues, they sort it out between them. In no way will the show be affected by their personal conflict. If world leaders could sort out their issus on a one to one basis, there would be no wars. The world's daily routines would stay intact.

So what have we learned? Keep your posesions in your own country, respect each others borders, focus on what you do, and don't worry about what your neighbors get up to. If your neighbors are in trouble help them out, otherwise let them get on with their gig. And finally, the fact that a country has a better deal with someone doesn't mean that you can't get one, if not a better one, somewhere else.

Plain and simple the show must go on, or should I say the world...................................