Good-bye To All of That

While there is much to remember about 2008 and much to be grateful for, I will not miss the year that has passed. Its reminiscent of 1968 in some ways--one of those pivotal years in US history that ends up shaking so many people on a personal level. So many more with so much less than before. More fear, more uncertainty, less trust in the things we thought were sure.

I actually don't mind that Americans are once again forced to live within their means. That course correction has been a long time coming. And I don't mind that people might actually have to learn to cook to save money on food, and learn to do without in order to have what they need. I'd love to see smaller homes, smaller cars and bigger imaginations. But this past year stands as a reminder of what happens when power corrupts, when the rich white guys get away with financial genocide, when morality vacates the workplace, when people lose their overall sense of right and wrong and think only of the singular "Me", when ego reigns.

So good-bye to 2008, I will not miss you. Let's hope that the Obama Era is the beginning of a return to an awareness of things greater than the self. If nothing else, hard times remind us that we really are in this together. We just need to be reminded of that once every 50 years or so.