If you think it was tough getting Baby New Year to the top of the hill in 2011, take a deep breath, I think this is going to be a much more harder pull than it was in 2010.
I actually went back to read what I blogged last year. In case you are interested it is here 2011 A Clean Slate.I guess at the time it was a nice point of view, it's good to be hopeful to know that you can change things and people can change.Things do continue to change and not always for the best. Three month's after my 'clean slate' proclamation Japan experienced one of its greatest disasters; the convergence of shaking earth, massive tidal waves and nuclear meltdowns.
After nine months of following the efforts in Japan the end result remains sad and without resolution. A 'thoughtful' reader on my Facebook commented, "Japan survived two nuclear bombs. They will be able to deal.with this." Wow, I wonder if the Jews in Hitler's concentration camps have that same easy gait view to their survival.
The Republican and Democrat political parties grow closer into morphing into a one-view party that consists of growing greed and and achieving non-solutions. Our nation continues to grow, as it has for close to seventy-five years, a country tightly intertwined with the business of defense and government secrecy. We only have to look back and see our nation out excel all others in the world in this effort.
In 1918 at the end of Word War I the United States was spending $68 dollars per capita on military spending, compared to countries like France, $235 per capita and Great Britain $188. This seems logical as the war was being fought on both their shores and not ours.
On the eve of the US entry into World War II the United States was spending just 1.7 percent of gross domestic product on defense. Today that has grown to a level three times that proportion. The United States now leads the world; its military spending is 43% of all defense spending worldwide, 6 times the share of China, 12 times that of Russia. The U.S. Navy is larger than the rest 13 navies combined.(1)
Defense spending continued to increase under President George W. Bush to about 70% and this does not include spending on homeland security by other governmental agencies. The Defense Business has become the mainstay of the American economy and it's not going to change over-night or maybe it won't change at all.
This Christmas Eve I celebrated the event at my home and on my terms. It was to be a happy event, with lots of laughing and the giving of presents was minimized to one of a 'fun gag-gift exchange', and we even had a pinata filled with sweet candy treats. A monetary donation to the local Food Bank was made in honor of our family, inviting 'in spirit' less fortunate families to join us in celebration.
All in all it was a happy Christmas, one that if it is my last, is exactly how I would have wanted it.
There are still a couple of battles out there that I am taking on, but I grow weary. I can feel it in my bones each day I set out upon this path I have chosen to walk. The choice to do nothing is not one I can make, I just can't ignore what goes on around me, so I continue to allow a portion of each of my day to be one devoted to being outrageously angry. My belief is that beyond our life on Earth there is nothing, so you either get it done right here and now or you can 'forget about it'.
On the off chance that I am right on this, there are some of you out there that better get off your assess and get to doing something. Otherwise you may be having one of those Perry "oops" moments.
(1) One Nation Under Arms, Vanity Fair, January 2010, page 76
An admirable message. I read it twice and enjoyed it both times. I hope you never get too tired to be angry, Annie. There's life in that. And as to the state of the world, we live in interesting times. Dog help us.
ReplyDeleteI like the new look, by the way. Clean.
ReplyDeleteThanks for both comments. I thought it was time to 'spiff' things up a bit, or in this case de-clutter, but that the general mood in my real life as well.
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