"May you live in interesting times," goes the ancient Chinese proverb. There's little doubt that today would qualify.

From the war in Iraq to a booming farm and energy economy here at home, from fights over abortion to the widening gap between rich and poor, there's no shortage of big issues to hold our interest.

But what are your biggest issues? Are these among them, or are your days spent pondering and dealing with entirely different matters?

We here at the Tribune would like to know.

We have posted a survey online to find out. We want you to tell us what your top five issues are, both for the U.S. and world, and right here at home.

The survey can be accessed at http://www.bismarcktribune.com/issues and will run through Saturday. We encourage you to take the survey and, if you like, to leave your contact information so we can follow up with you.

At the same time, the Tribune will be e-mailing the survey to local, state and national officials to see what they believe are the biggest issues in front of us.

In September, we will review and publish the results.

We hope the project will shed some light on what is really important to residents of western North Dakota - both for us, and for you at home.

(Reach reporter Jonathan Rivoli at 223-8482 or jonathan.rivoli@bismarcktribune.com.)