FORGOTTEN WORDS?:

"The tendency of government and its programs to grow is about the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this earth."

-- Ronald Reagan

NEVER has a city been wounded so deeply."

That sentence, from an article in this newspaper, set us to thinking about a Top Ten list of the greatest calamities suffered by cities throughout history. In chronological order:

10. A Rain of fire and brimstone punishes the wickedness of Sodom and Gomorrah, about 3,000 B.C.

9. Achaeans conquer Troy after a 10-year siege, about 1194 B.C.

8. Rome demolishes the temple in Jerusalem, 70 A.D.

7. An eruption of Mount Vesuvius buries Pompei in lava, 79.

6. Barbarians depose the last Roman emperor, 476.

5. Black plague depopulates numerous European cities, 14th century.

4. The Great Fire lays waste to London, 1666.

3. A Nazi army besieges Leningrad for 900 days, 1942-1944.

2. Atomic bombs devastate Hiroshima and Nagasaki, 1945.

And, as noted, the Number One gravest wound ever suffered by a city:

1. Ten years ago this week, Mayflower moving vans ravish away the Baltimore Colts to Indianapolis in the middle of the night.

Well, that's what the man said.