March Madness is not limited to one month only, or to one sport. Au contraire, mon ami, madness is limitless, sportswise, timewise, and otherwise.

The "madness" thing extends itself into all facets of all the spectra, not just in this country but globally as well.

All one needs for proof of the verities listed above is to take a glimpse at page one of the morning daily rag, or watch the crime prevention ads aired on the TV screen.

You get the full treatment on outlaw behavior

through those media, where murder, mayhem, arson, kidnapping, school threats

ad nauseam get the full treatment.

The TV flicks are about 90%

gore oriented, displaying copious amounts of gunfire, with blood and guts spilled out all over the place.

It makes one shudder with revulsion to contemplate the violenceand in many cases, the unbelievable amount of lawlessnessprevailing on the silver screen and all over this planet.

There is very little left to the imagination of the viewer who allows himself to be subjected to such fare.

The seamy side of our existence is drummed into our consciousness in a sans cease manner that defies our finer sensibilities from dawn to dusk.

What's the answer to the problem posed here?

The answer to the question cannot be categorized singularly, but must be responded to in many ways.

First, we must at least attempt to retain the innocence of our inquisitive youngsters (in my personal case, my 7- and 10-year-old grandgirls) whose minds operate in a non-stop manner that leaves us in the dust.

Next, we must get after the big moguls of the media who allow so much airtime and ink to "whip a dead horse" to death with all the recurrent evil that besmirches our lives

particularly in the good old U.S. of A.

And yet again, we must get the paying sponsors of the glut of prime-time displays of horrendous programming to discontinue their ad campaigns

unless their money is applied to other sources of "entertainment."

And finally, if all measures listed here fail to stem the ever-widening tide of rapine

and slaughter, we might try the non-renewal of daily newspaper subscriptions, and off to the trash heap with the television sets.

These measures may appear drastic, but they're the only ones we can think of that may rid society of the "madness" as it now exists.