Welcome to 2008

Hi All,
Welcome to 2008. I wish for each of you and all of us a most excellent coming year. May your paths be smooth and your hearts calm. May you have great insights and be effective in your efforts to create a better world. The world needs all of our best thoughts and efforts. The world needs YOU!

I struggle with futility while struggling to maintain hope. I imagine that most of you do as well. I wish I could say that I think that there is going to be a significant change for the better in 2008. In fact, most signs show this is going to be a tough year.

Economically, both the US and most of the rest of the global financial sectors are stumbling from the so-called "sub-prime mortgage" fiasco. What most of us knew (though somehow it escaped the financial pundits) was that the credit system was out of wack and that the housing bubble was poised to burst. Add the astronomical debt situation in the U.S. and one really didn't need to be a pundit to know that this house of cards was going to fall. What is clear at this point is that the financing "tumble" is going to continue, and the system is fraught with more cracks than busted safety glass.

The crumbling empire will continue to hemorrhage money and lives around the world. If the neo-con / Christian dominionist / corporatist agenda was to create chaos and conflict for the benefit (profiteering) of the few, then they have been very successful. There is a chaotic spiral of destruction that is spreading and not receding. The momentum of that will carry it well past 2008 unless something significant changes.

The Congress is unlikely to shift the ongoing destruction of the Bush administration whether with Iraq, the corporatization of everything, the theft of the nations wealth, nor the environment. Quite frankly, the current Democratic leadership is not up to the task, and the pressure is for a "holding pattern" throughout the campaign year. Unfortunately, many issues need immediate action, and the destruction will likely continue.

Environmentally, we are losing ground. We have wasted decades of opportunity to address both environmental destruction and climatic devastation. We are still twiddling our thumbs. The solutions offered (bio-fuels, "clean" coal, and nuclear power plants) all are accelerating destruction - not averting it.

It is clear that the leaders will not lead, and vested interests will strengthen their hold ...

UNLESS ...

the people lead
the people become demystified by the current mantra
the people have a change of heart and mind

THAT is a daunting challenge indeed.

So my New Year's Resolution and I hope you will join me...

• Be an agent of change!
• Share information and information sources.
• Have ongoing conversations with everyone you know and the stranger on the bus regarding the burning issues and the way forward to a better future.
• Support others by listening and encouraging.
• Engage in random acts of kindness.
• Contact local and national representatives and those running for office regularly (weekly if possible).
• Hold the media accountable for bull shit and misinformation and distracting us from what is important.
• Take time for love - those you love, what you love, and love yourself.
• Be gentle with the spirits of others.
• Be the change and hopefully others will join.

Posted by rowan at January 1, 2008 11:33 AM | [eMail this article!] |