Wishes for the New Year

Did we jump off the Fiscal Cliff as the old year ended? Did we throw our country into more turmoil?

I don’t know. Although this is absolutely vital to many people, I’m weary of the political posturings. Beneath the partisanship and self-interest there must be some real concern for our citizens and denizens. It just isn’t visible on most days. So I stopped watching and reading. I am truly powerless in this debacle unless I decide to make solving the problems of our political system my mission. I no longer have the energy for that. It feels too big.

Last evening at dinner I was asking my guests about their individual wishes for 2013. These are retired people, self-employed (some continuing after retirement), contractors, and the head of the non-profit that feeds the hungry in our county.

They listed their heartfelt wishes for peace, for the economic well-being of their own families and those they love, for term limits and for the “cliff” to become a gentle slope;  and they asked me for my wish.

“Well, that wish is a given,” said my friend when I told them that health and safety of my family was on my mind…

I have difficulty wishing for myself. I am blessed. I don’t want for anything and couldn’t in good conscience wish for more.  I do hope that my family and friends will continue to be blessed with housing, warmth, food, and our comparative prosperity in a world in which this is NOT a given.

. . .

If we’re talking about our country…

I wish for us to defend and protect the human rights of the people of our country in order for us to again become healthy as a nation. Having that renewed strength, then the human rights of the people of the world should be our concern.

I wish for us to spend as much or more money on health care and education as we spend on the military.

I wish us not be warmongers. I wish we were not so greedy in using the resources of the world as if they are limitless and our personal property.  I wish we would not squander the lives of our young to protect that greed.

. . .

And if there is a way that I can make any of these wishes come true, I hope that I am clear-eyed and clear-thinking enough to grasp the chance.

Happy New Year

xxoo