Peace, Love, Obama!

Deja Vu!

All the sudden, it feels like 1970 again. (Except I'm not 15...)

Youth is important and has a voice in how the country is being run. The national mall in DC was filled with people celebrating their voting power. Music was a binding medium, bridging gender, racial and generational gaps. People were willing to brave unkind temperatures, walk on foot to the venues, and wait in lines. And, the people attending Tuesday's inaugural events were nice to each other!

Like I said, Deja Vu! But, this is 2009. And, this is real...

Well, things have certainly gotten off to a great start in the new Obama administration. Not only are the citizens excited and happily walking the streets arm-in-arm, but our new Commander-in-Chief has already started making his mark. He's wasting no time taking visible action to make good on his campaign promises.

The other day, I heard on the radio coverage of the inauguration events that people on the national mall were chanting "Peace, Love, Obama!"

That's really cool. People are excited and hopeful that things can really change and get better. This is kinda surreal. It's like living in a movie. Hey - I always wanted to live in a movie! This is great. And, I'm not going to jinx this by saying anything negative. It's all good. Let's enjoy it.

It's Finally Here - George W. Bush's Last Day in Office!

This is the day I (and many others) have awaited for a long, long time. Eight years. Eight depressing, embarrassing, agonizing, painful years of this man's blatant disregard for the American citizen's rights, needs, and honor.

It's finally here. His LAST day in office.

Tomorrow, the damage control begins. I hope we can recover from the inane ineptitude of George W. Bush and his pack of selfish cohorts. Good riddance to the lot of them. During the President's farewell speech the other evening, I was amazed (didn't think that it was possible) at Bush's lack of conscious acknowledgment of his role in creating the current economic crisis; of his complete denial that he illegally put America at odds with the rest of the world over our invasion of Iraq; of his eight year battle against the middle class; of his disdain for civil servants, whose jobs were outsourced in a thinly veiled corporate welfare scheme; and, lastly his plain ignorance about how Americans view his legacy. Legacy - that's a very fancy word for crimes against humanity.

I am celebrating tonight that George W. Bush is finally out of office. He has single-handedly brought America to the brink of disaster.

Good job, W.

Now get the hell out of "the People's house!" Don't let the door hit you on your ass on the way out.

Positive New Year - Oh Yeah!

Have you read the news laterly?

There's not a lot of goodness going on. Our humanity is on the brink of becoming terminal as world and economic tensions rise. To further fuel human anxiety, Mother Earth is starting to wobble as the melting ice caps have flooded pockets of the planet in unequal measures. Christmas cheer and "Goodwill and Peace on Earth" was blown to smithereens on Christmas Day started by Hamas and Israel. (Why did they have to ruin our holiday?) A local 69 year old man was attacked and beaten with a baseball bat in his church's parking lot while headed to Christmas Eve mass - at least they caught the perpetrator today. And, 5 members of one family died in a house fire in DC because the 1940's home's wall structure enabled fire to tunnel through the walls unabated - a problem rectified in subsequent constructure code improvements. Wall street's end-of-year losses were unfathomably huge, so much paper wealth was lost that it makes your eyes cross.

So, now it's another year. What are we going to do with it? More of the same or by some miracle, do better? How are you feeling at this moment? Are you an optimist or a pessimist? Or perhaps, you are a realist.

It really doesn't matter. None of us has a crystal ball. We can only do our best, day by day. I believe if we all took this position and thought less about how to get power, things, and people and more about taking it slow and easy, life would improve.

In 2009 I plan to do just this - slow and easy, each day at a time, making the most of the things within my sphere of control. And, when you think about it, there are many things within arm's reach that we affect... our family, coworkers, neighbors, strangers, classmates, parishioners, service providers, sales associates, bank tellers, cab drivers, etc. I have a pretty wide network and I pledge to do my best to make a positive and lasting impact on those with whom I have contact. After all, it's the people in our lives - closely related or mere associates - who in turn can pass on that positive energy to others within their network. And so it spreads. Good will and positive energy.

Go out and spread your positive energy. It's catching!

Let's make this truly a happy new year.