Year's
End
“Year's
end is neither an end nor a beginning but a going on, with all the
wisdom that experience can instill.”
Hal
Borland
2017 has been a difficult
year for me and for many others. Here in America, we've had seemingly
constant natural disasters—wildfires, floods, winds that topped 100
miles per hour, and, today, snow up to the yin-yang in many parts of
the country. We've experienced our highest number of man-made
disasters—mass shootings topped 307, nearly one per day this year.
We are a nation learning the effects of social division and cultural
animosity—again. Almost constant protest and nastiest political
debate seen in my lifetime, have marred our sense of unity and,
certainly, impaired our standing in the world community. Women have
decided that enough is enough, and they are speaking their
truth—always a dangerous, world tilting event—long overdue. The
threat of nuclear war hangs like a bad ghost in the background of our
minds. I, for one, won't be sorry to turn the page on this year.
But, it's not like
getting to the end of a dystopian novel and closing the book. Life
goes on, and we must not shut the door and rest on our laurels,
though many of us, myself included, would love to do just that. As
weary as we are of the constant conflict and animus, we must, in the
words of my late father, “buck-up” and keep going. Martin Luther
King, Jr. said this: “Our lives begin to end the day we become
silent about things that matter.” After a holiday rest, we will
find the juice inside to face the challenges that confront us.
Because we have to; quitting is not an option.
I happen to be an
optimist, though some days that's hard to believe from my writing. I
take great comfort in the fact that the deep red state of Alabama
elected Doug Jones, who happens to be a centrist democrat, to be its
Senator—something that hasn't happened in twenty-five years. I see many entrepreneurial people, who have the means to do it, are
taking things into their own hands and not waiting for solutions to
come from Washington, the most dysfunctional city in America. I just
can't resist inserting some lines from Bob Dylan's 1964 song, “The Times
They Are A'Changin'”:
“Come
Senators, Congressmen,
please
heed the call.
Don't
stand in the doorway.
Don't
block up the hall.
For he
that gets hurt
will be he
who has stalled.
There's a
battle outside,
and it's
ragin'.
It'll soon
shake your windows
and rattle
your walls.
For the
times they are a'changin'.”
When you look back at
world history, every great power rises, peaks, and falls—a natural
cycle for all living things. So, I have hope for America and the
world. We will stand strong, and work to maintain heart and courage because we will hold each other up when the going gets tough. As life
changes direction, as it always does, find your own balance in the
flow, and stick with it. 2018 is (hopefully) going to be a better year.
In the Spirit,
Jane
No comments:
Post a Comment