December 29, 2012

  • Year end roundup...

    Well,2012 was quite a year!  Well, obviously it WAS a year, but in terms of what set us off, it was quite a year.

    Politics:

    Obviously, an election year brings out the (best, worst, whatever) in all of us.  After all, we are bombarded with the election at every turn, even to the point of driving us screaming from any room we find ourselves in, including the outdoors.  And it is amazing how we have so many evil people running for office and how the country will go to you know where in a hand basket if so and so is elected/reelected.  And it happens, the hoopla rises then crashes on the day after the elections and life goes on.  The President presides, the Congress does nothing and your local elected officials go back to whatever they were doing prior to the election, probably raising money for their re-election.

    Arguments over political positions which were the cause of families splitting and mass un-friending on Facebook become just another drama event. Drama moves back to where it belongs, boyfriend/girlfriend, friend/friend, parents/children.

    Television returns to ads for products which grow hair/eliminate hair, clean everything, repair everything, and the ever popular, personal care products, which, depending on your age, all seem to be interested in one part of your body-right below your belly button and right above the tops of your thighs.  In advertising dollars, that area seems to be the most profitable part of the human body.  If it leaks, it needs covering for it.

    Economy:

    In January, we are given last minute hints on how to optimize our tax returns.  The rest of the year, we are told how taxes are the death of us all-in terms of economic growth, personal fortune, and politics.  The rest of the year, we work to earn money to keep the tax base working.  This lead some to talk of "givers and takers" as segments of society.  We all give.  We give the government something to focus on and to create work to address.  We are also all takers.  We use the roads, bridges, medicines, and systems the government provides.  We are the "us" in US.  While the balance in our giving and taking is never 50/50, it is also never 100/0.  We all give and we all take.

    The Congress on the other hand......

    Environment:

    The ice shelf in both the Northern Hemisphere and the Southern Hemisphere is falling apart and drifting away.  There is a big message there that we just cannot seem to grasp.  If only polar bears spoke English.....

    Mother Nature appears to be suffering from a slow motion hot flash.  And, like many hot flash sufferers, she wants to spread the misery around.

    "One band - One sound" may be a great theme for a marching band, but "One brand - One crop" should be a wakeup call to us all.  Does the Irish Potato Famine ring a bell with anyone? Diversity is strongly encouraged in our society but not in our crop fields.  We need to pay attention to that.

    Many things were performing "die offs".  Pods of marine mammals, squid in large numbers, birds falling from the sky, starfish, and on and on.  If animal life is committing suicide, should we not pay attention?

    Crime:

    Angry people shooting up public spaces with tragic results.  We are broken and do not even realize the extent of our brokenness.  500+ murders in Chicago alone and we shrug our collective shoulders.  Our callous regard for our fellow man should frighten us.

    Entertainment:

    Female actors (apparently actress is no longer used...) had babies this year.  Ok.  Tell me again why this news stops the presses?  Why are we as a society more interested in a script interpreting person's baby bump than in the millions that happen to everyday females?  Male actors seemed to have lost their sense of how razors work and how to dress.  But then, it wasn't in the script.....

    Royalty:

    The Queen has been...queen...for half a century.  If she was not her own boss, she would have given herself retirement papers and a gold watch by now.  The heirling's wife is expecting.  Good for them.  Too bad for the nurse who inadvertently was fooled by two fools from a radio program.  She couldn't take the joke-not being tricked, but being seen as a fool.  Too bad the fools on the radio were not smarter in the first place.  And let's call them what they were, shall we?  Bullies.... Oh, and the princesses B and E have lost their rent free living spaces.  Somehow it is easy to see where the thousands of folks who were foreclosed on will be sympathetic.

    Passing on:

    This year saw a lot of folks pass on, just as in other years.  They were the folks who entertained us, led us, inspired us and annoyed us.  What have we learned from them?  And what will we have left for others when we pass on?

    Space:

    We watched an ATV roam Mars, a man "skydive" from space, a shuttle be retired, and a space station amaze.  Photos from space still amaze us and lots of us stood outside to watch moons rise, meteors zip by, Northern and Southern lights and planets align.  Perhaps it still amazes us because it works so well and we are not in charge of it.

    The future:

    January 1 will come with hoopla and with celebration.  January 2 will come with a "back to work" attitude and life will go on.  Hopefully, 2013 will bring us all hope and peace.  I suspect it will bring us a lot of what has already been listed above. 

    Best wishes to you and yours in 2013.

     

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