Happy New Year

In my opinion 2008 was not the best year in many ways. We all struggled through the political primaries and endless debates, two political conventions, the presidential campaign, which seemed endless and finally the election. Election night was a high point for me. The election of Barack Obama as the next president of our country gave me a sense of hope.
In 2008 the stock market was over 14,000 and then it dipped as low as 7600. Now it hovers in the 8000’s. Many people lost a great deal of money and it induced a sense of fear in many of us, me included. We felt a loss of hope and security. We saw friends and neighbors lose jobs and see their futures become even more insecure. In all of this it seemed as though no one really knew what to do and there was no one overseeing the billions of dollars given to financial institutions.
To me, it seems as though we have lost the ability to form cohesive communities where people really care about each other. We have gone through a period of introspection and withdrawal where the individual seeks self fulfillment at the expense of his or her fellow man.
While this post may seem to be very negative, I have a strong sense of hope that we may wake up as a nation and as local communities to come together to begin to solve the problems that persist in our society.
President-elect Obama has the opportunity to bring about positive change. He cannot do this alone. He will need the support of all of us and we need to become involved citizens to the extent that we are able. This may mean making a call or sending an email to elected representatives. It might mean writing a letter to the editor of the local newspaper. Whatever we are called to do let’s hope we can rise to the challenges we face.
I wish all of you a very happy, healthy and peaceful New Year!