2008 has been a year that in many ways defies easy summation. Granted the words “utter disaster” “meltdown” “beginning of the end” could all come to mind, but so could “amazing triumph” “realization of hope” “beginning of change” and the like. It all depends on how you want to look at it, and which parts you’d like to focus on.
I think the best I can do is… “it could be worse” and right now that’s true.
But the world continues to spin, and in it’s spinning we draw to the end of the year and the beginning of the next. Sadly the calendar and various night spots are the only places where the strike of midnight matters. For all things that matter, it’s just another day. There’s been a lot of things I’ve wanted to touch on these past few days, I just really haven’t known how to go about it. The economy isn’t great, and we all know it, though that seems to be a big focus for our incoming Prez and his Cabinet, so maybe there’s hope for at least some improvement, though for every bailout and stimulus check the money still has to come from somewhere and it’s likely that our kids and grandkids and perhaps beyond will still in some form or fashion be dealing with the fallout from each dollar spent… I don’t know where it all will come from other than just continued printing of money and exchanging cash for debt which devalues each cent and increases inflation and all around just further plunges us into the depths of economic failure… but there are those much smarter than I working on this case and hopefully they have a plan that while beyond my comprehension will nonetheless help to improve the financial state of the country.
However, there are other fears on tap, not manufactured fears heightened by changing color scales and random warnings, but actual threats to the well being of all peoples of the world. Iraq’s security has improved beyond the holdouts who will likely continue to try to fight what is in their mind the good fight long after we’ve left and Iraq has been governing itself for decades, but while one warfront lessens in severity another picks up as the war in Afghanistan, so oft neglected while Iraq gained in focus, continues to escalate and grow in new and different ways, changing in dynamic, and requiring untried tactics to gain ground in the conflict. And while American continues to fight in Afghanistan and along the border of Pakistan, Pakistan develops greater tension along the border of another of it’s neighbors in India, spawning most recently from the horrible terrorist attack and hostage situation in a hotel in India that has reportedly been traced back to Pakistan. On top of that, the UN is still working on a commission to look into the assassination of Benazir Bhutto who was aiming to lead Pakistan into a new progressive future. Then there’s the new escalation of force by Israel against the Palestinians in Gaza and specifically Hamas following the end of the cease-fire and Hamas’ continued rocket attacks even during the cease-fire, the show of force which is dividing the Arab community as many extremists turn on their various country’s leaders for not taking a hard enough stance against Israel and/or for Hamas in a conflict that many are worrying could prove to be a rallying point for extremists and a growing source of violent intent and action. In addition there’s been a raise in gas prices as a result of predictions that oil routes could be shut down due to violence and protests in the Middle East (in the grand scale of things, hardly the worst thing to spawn out of all this madness, but it still effects us so it’s worth mentioning). Our incoming leadership has been strangely quiet about all of these world events as opposed to his revealing of plans regarding the economy, instead deferring to the current President George W. Bush and taking cues from him on what the country will do in response to all of these events and conflicts.
Like the economy I have no answers about any of these conflicts, they spawn from years upon years of issue between various social and religious factions along and about many different borders, and each conflict has it’s own intricacies that will require great care and consideration, as the clock continues to tick down the minutes to midnight and the end of 2008, I can only hope for resolutions to the many conflicts that face our world and a stabilization that would benefit us all in the next year. I’m not holding my breath, and crossing my fingers would make it really hard to type any more of these late night rants, but regardless of what comes next… perhaps as some mantra that will just make it easier to get through the day remember that “it could be worse.”
