![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Hail the New Year Lads and Lasses
Dec. 30th, 2011 12:57 pmI tend to think of this time of year as the alt+ctrl+delete button of life.
A time to pause and reboot our relationships with all who breathe, the earth we live on, and maybe, most importantly, ourselves. A time for forgiving, and, when appropriate, for forgetting, the errors that slow down our processes and can make us crash. (It's one of the reasons I don't buy into the whole resolution racket. Who wants to *begin* the year with baggage?)
There have been so many terrible events this year that it can seem as though the good has been choked out by gloom, that the world is a cold, dank place and our fellow humans dark and hollow inside.
But that is only half of the story. This world is the only home we have and we can do a pretty good job of fixing it up keeping ourselves filled with hope. As long as we have elders to pass on the the stories and babies are born to write another page in the book, there is always hope.
Once upon a time, in a kingdom about 3000 miles away, a young girl married an older man and everyone lived unhappily ever. The no longer quite so young girl, sadder and perhaps wiser, died and the world held its breath for a moment. This year her son, now a man, married his college sweetheart, a young *woman* who he knew well and dated for years. And no one cared she wasn’t a virgin, thank god. The whole event was beautiful and full of ceremony and pageantry (and hats) that only the British seem to be able to pull off. Beyond that though, the real story is how *normal* their courtship was.
Once upon a time there was a virus. Anyone who caught it was dead within less than a year. At first people thought it was only people who didn’t live like us or look like us or people who did things we would never do. And then it began to touch people we knew, sometimes even our neighbors or family. This year for the first time, there is talk of a vaccine to be tested. Is it still a killer? Yes but 2011 brought a hope that could only have been imagined 25 years ago. Hope my friends, hope.
Once upon a time there were a bunch of people who were very upset. They felt cheated and manipulated by a byzantine structure that was massive and oppressive. A system controlled by nameless, faceless others who hid behind a wall of unmatched power and money. So a few of them got together, and then a few more and it popped up in spots all over the world, a rolling wave of people who said, “we will not sit down and we will not be moved”. On a personal note, I don’t get Occupy Wall Street (or Oakland, or Portland or Dallas), I don’t get the Tea Party either. What I do get is that there are so many places around the world where people do not have the right to freely express their anger. Love these groups, hold them in disdain, don’t think about them at all; it’s your choice. No matter how you feel about them, OWS and the Tea Party really are the latest of a fine American tradition of public protest. Think of it as a celebration of a right so many in our history died for and a right that people all over the world are still dying for today.
Once upon a time there a very bad man who hated our country. He wanted to see us and all of the freedoms we stood for destroyed. For a decade the stench of his hate hung in our nostrils. "In compound deep inside Pakistan, after a firefight, they killed Osama bin Laden and took custody of his body". I believe it is never proper to celebrate the death of a human being. Instead I celebrate the bravery and commitment of every member of the United States Armed forces who served when called. I celebrate their families who made sacrifices of separation and loss that most of us cannot imagine. Ultimately they brought a measure of justice to all of those who died on September 11 and after. Do I think this ends the War on Terror? No, but I do think it brings a little more healing to those who hurt.
Once upon a time there was an earthquake followed by a great wave followed by a broken and breached nuclear plant. As the world watch in horror, a group of brave men volunteered to go into this building, knowing their lives are at risk. They were retired, this was no longer their job but the greater good of using their knowledge was more important to them than their own comfort and safety. Think of the countless firemen, policemen, medics, first responders, Red Cross workers and everyone who when the building is on fire, run into the fire, tend to the wounded, dying and dead and help to restore a semblence of normatily and structure while life is rebuilt. 2011 was another year to celebrate them.
So fast away the old year passes, but as it passes into the vast blank canvas on 2012, remember that 2011, with its grimy face and limping gate, was a pretty good year filled with its own notables and heroes.
Happy Holidays and Happy New Year Y'all!
A time to pause and reboot our relationships with all who breathe, the earth we live on, and maybe, most importantly, ourselves. A time for forgiving, and, when appropriate, for forgetting, the errors that slow down our processes and can make us crash. (It's one of the reasons I don't buy into the whole resolution racket. Who wants to *begin* the year with baggage?)
There have been so many terrible events this year that it can seem as though the good has been choked out by gloom, that the world is a cold, dank place and our fellow humans dark and hollow inside.
But that is only half of the story. This world is the only home we have and we can do a pretty good job of fixing it up keeping ourselves filled with hope. As long as we have elders to pass on the the stories and babies are born to write another page in the book, there is always hope.
Once upon a time, in a kingdom about 3000 miles away, a young girl married an older man and everyone lived unhappily ever. The no longer quite so young girl, sadder and perhaps wiser, died and the world held its breath for a moment. This year her son, now a man, married his college sweetheart, a young *woman* who he knew well and dated for years. And no one cared she wasn’t a virgin, thank god. The whole event was beautiful and full of ceremony and pageantry (and hats) that only the British seem to be able to pull off. Beyond that though, the real story is how *normal* their courtship was.
Once upon a time there was a virus. Anyone who caught it was dead within less than a year. At first people thought it was only people who didn’t live like us or look like us or people who did things we would never do. And then it began to touch people we knew, sometimes even our neighbors or family. This year for the first time, there is talk of a vaccine to be tested. Is it still a killer? Yes but 2011 brought a hope that could only have been imagined 25 years ago. Hope my friends, hope.
Once upon a time there were a bunch of people who were very upset. They felt cheated and manipulated by a byzantine structure that was massive and oppressive. A system controlled by nameless, faceless others who hid behind a wall of unmatched power and money. So a few of them got together, and then a few more and it popped up in spots all over the world, a rolling wave of people who said, “we will not sit down and we will not be moved”. On a personal note, I don’t get Occupy Wall Street (or Oakland, or Portland or Dallas), I don’t get the Tea Party either. What I do get is that there are so many places around the world where people do not have the right to freely express their anger. Love these groups, hold them in disdain, don’t think about them at all; it’s your choice. No matter how you feel about them, OWS and the Tea Party really are the latest of a fine American tradition of public protest. Think of it as a celebration of a right so many in our history died for and a right that people all over the world are still dying for today.
Once upon a time there a very bad man who hated our country. He wanted to see us and all of the freedoms we stood for destroyed. For a decade the stench of his hate hung in our nostrils. "In compound deep inside Pakistan, after a firefight, they killed Osama bin Laden and took custody of his body". I believe it is never proper to celebrate the death of a human being. Instead I celebrate the bravery and commitment of every member of the United States Armed forces who served when called. I celebrate their families who made sacrifices of separation and loss that most of us cannot imagine. Ultimately they brought a measure of justice to all of those who died on September 11 and after. Do I think this ends the War on Terror? No, but I do think it brings a little more healing to those who hurt.
Once upon a time there was an earthquake followed by a great wave followed by a broken and breached nuclear plant. As the world watch in horror, a group of brave men volunteered to go into this building, knowing their lives are at risk. They were retired, this was no longer their job but the greater good of using their knowledge was more important to them than their own comfort and safety. Think of the countless firemen, policemen, medics, first responders, Red Cross workers and everyone who when the building is on fire, run into the fire, tend to the wounded, dying and dead and help to restore a semblence of normatily and structure while life is rebuilt. 2011 was another year to celebrate them.
So fast away the old year passes, but as it passes into the vast blank canvas on 2012, remember that 2011, with its grimy face and limping gate, was a pretty good year filled with its own notables and heroes.
Happy Holidays and Happy New Year Y'all!
