A cloud hangs over this city by the sea,
I watch the ships pass and wonder if she might be,
Out there and sober as a well for loneliness,
Please do persist girl its time we met and made, a mess
- incubus

Sometimes it’s painful to watch. The violence, greed and blood lust of our world never seems to wane. Children stave, wars rage, health care & medication are held at ransom, religion and politics blur, we still think an “eye for an eye has value”, that death is a punishment and on and on. We’re a crazy lot. I dare not dwell on these things for too long. I know the facts all to well. Sadly I read to much. But in a way New Years for me has not so much become a day of hope for the future, but a day to mourn how little we’ve changed. I know that does not fit the upbeat, always look at the bright side, view we are all supposed to have. So be it. I must have forgotten to take my tablets. Sometimes it’s easy to take the roll of Mildred Montag and lose ourselves in big screens and reality TV. But that was not the roll we were supposed to take. In spite of any revisions of history you may have heard, Fahrenheit 451 was not really about the advancement of Big Screen Televisions in the 21st century. I know it’s hard, and maybe even a bit boring to hear this little diatribe. But we just seem to go on and on through time not really able to do much about anything. We’re like the Flintstones in a Jetson world. We’ve got all the toys, but we’re still cavemen. Are we really getting anywhere? Or will we just keep building bigger screens and bigger SUVs until our world burns up below our feet. I wonder if our future is some apocalyptic landscape covered in rusted out 4x4s with families right of Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath living in the back. Thing is the world does not need to be this way. We’re actually pretty rich. We have the money, ability and intellect, to solve most of the world’s problems. We just need to put all our money in one check book so to speak. The whole world, as one family with one budget looking out for everyone. But the thing is, we just can’t seem to pull together. Frankly I doubt we ever will.

For my part 2007 lays out ahead as a stormy ocean shoreline. In the distance I can see goals. A beach here, a river mouth there and so on. In between I see a bit of confusion and turbulence. Those are the bits where I’ll have to keep my head down and just take one stroke after another. I want this year to be one of transition. Maybe I’ll begin razing the city before I know for sure what I’ll put in it’s place. On thing is sure, I’m seeking change. Some would say I’m always chasing windmills. That there is no “holy land”. No perfect place. Maybe that’s so. But I’m not one to give up. I’m not content with with a gray existence. I seek a divine spark. I’m happier on the journey for something impossible than remaining stationary with that which is merely “acceptable”. To do that I would always be wondering if there was something more. I mean is this really it? There’s got to be something better out there. Just got to be.

Happy New Year.

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