Is there a picture that comes to your mind for the closing of one year, and the beginning of a new one? I remember the cartoon of the tired, bearded old man dragging himself off the world stage, then turning briefly to wave goodbye to the new baby sitting on the floor.
How we picture the “changing of the guard” with a new year probably says more about us than it does either the departing or incoming year. And there’s little question that our view changes as we age. I find that I’m usually overly optimistic about what I can accomplish in the coming year, and at the same time fault myself for what I didn’t accomplish the previous year. It’s a recipe for stress and discontent, however, especially if you set your goals too high; so I can’t recommend it.
By and large, when we take our seat at the table I think we either focus on the glass half full, or half empty. And perhaps that’s what keeps the world going. A world full of optimists would soon be overrun with problems they’d never considered. And a world full of pessimists, aside from never accomplishing anything, would be unthinkably dour.
If you like to focus on problems, by all means have at it! There is certainly no shortage of them as 2008 wraps up and passes the baton to 2009. But do you know what? The same will be true as 2009 and its successors finish their brief huffing and puffing upon the stage of history, and go their way.
If you’re a glass half full type of person, well – each of those problems out there in the new year are like oysters with an irritating little grain of sand trapped somewhere in their shell. Look carefully at that problem, and from the right angle you just may find a nice little pearl for your efforts.
Based on the election outcome, the majority of the country must view the next year as a glass half full for our nation. They elected their man to the presidency, he’s bringing his advisers, and Congress is of the same mind. Santa Claus may have been a little late this year, but by golly – he’s still “coming to town!”
I wasn’t in that group of voters. But I must be a glass half full person, because even here I see the glimmer of a pearl of wisdom just ready for the taking. For way too long, we as conservatives have been swabbing the deck of the ship of state, electing our guys, fueling her with oil and provisions, and then waiting for “our guys” to fix the country.
And just how did we expect them to do that? By using the government that we so generously gave them. Well, guess what? They didn’t fix it. They spent our money on their friends and went home!
So guess what the libs who won this election are going to find out after a few years of swabbing the deck of the ship of state, wire-brushing the rust off, and putting a fresh coat of paint on her and hauling more provisions on board? The crew they elected ain’t gonna fix her, either, baby! They’re gonna tax us more than the last crew, spend our money on a different group of people who just happen to be their friends, and leave the rest of us with the unpaid bills for the next 30 years when they get thrown out of office in the next election.
In the meantime, a group of creative, hard-working people who have become tired of waiting for government to fix their problems – whether they wanted to turn the ship of state left or right – isn’t necessarily a bad thing. If the government doesn’t suck up all the money, and enough of the free market remains, we just may see real change. It won’t be a result of the freeloaders on board the ship of state, but then it never has been. It will be the result of Americans applying themselves to the problem at hand, and developing a solution for themselves – and just maybe – the rest of us, too.
Happy New Year!
