Reflecting on the New Year...and life! Guest Blogger Livelifebythesea

For no particular good reason I write about the year past and hopes of the future. 2008 was a year in which the sins of the past finally came home. Decades of economic pretense and neglect had culminated in the installation of perhaps our worst president ever, and certainly the worst since Hoover. It has brought on the beginning of a political and economic reckoning. 2009 may be an “Exciting Year” in the sense of the old Chinese curse of being in ‘Interesting Times’.

We have however, reinvigorated the values that made this a great nation when we voted for our first African American president. We will need his vision and leadership to regain the economic, political, and moral high ground. We will need to have the American fortitude and courage to support, and follow good leadership, and to reject petty partisan attempts to abrogate power back to those that have brought us to this low state. (Hit read more)

Been reading a lot of history of late, TEAM OF RIVALS, and now JOHN ADAMS. What is striking is how little we as a people have changed. There have always been those that see only self-serving ends and who attribute those same petty goals to all others. As times are secure and the economy buoyant we become a self-indulgent people that ignore or loose interest in our social and political responsibilities. This leads to recurring violent readjustments.

In the past we have always risen to the challenge and forged new and better ways to see the world and ourselves. This generation will need the tenacity, strength, and sense of community that was so evident in both the leaders and heroic common men and women of our past.

For me it has also been a year of loss and re-evaluation. The unexpected loss of two good friend jarred me. Their deaths only days apart seemed to shift the ground under foot. We all know that time is fleeting, but seeing how ephemeral it makes all of our human connections, presses home how precious are our moments here.

Knowing how some of my friends and acquaintances struggle daily with physical complaints does not make my small trails of aging and degeneration of remembered strength and stamina any less cumbersome and threatening. It is not only the sure and certain approach of THE END that cast a lengthening shadow, but the question of how much longer the sweet escapes and fulfillments of life will endure. The time of life filled primarily with continuous rounds of medical tests and treatments punctuated with small bits of familial repose is thundering down the track of time.

I hope that I am one of the lucky ones that gets to have vigorous intellectual and physical years to the end, but know now, more than before, that none of us have any guarantees. If anything we can be sure of, it is at best a slow decline.

So ---- I am going to do what any smart person would. I am going to ‘run away’. When asked about his amazing longevity as a ball player Satchel Paige said, “Don’t look back. Something might be gaining on you.” I don’t know how far I will run or if there is even a destination.

So the point is I have no true idea of what will actually transpire over the next 12 months, but am going to try very hard to make an escape, or at least start the process with the house for sale and boat getting refitted.

I hope this upbeat message finds all of you in good health and good spirits (I recommend vodka).

Happy, Healthy, and Prosperous 2009