At Year's End

The Earth has made its way around the sun one more time, and here we are, again waiting for the old to become new. This year saw a lot of changes in our lives. From an economic slowdown to a political election, changes came and went. Sadly, not all of us are here. Some have gone on to bigger things and, hopefully, better places. I will remember 2008 for the handful of triumphs and the dozens of failures, all of which make me look forward to the hundreds of plans for 2009.

Once around the sun didn't seem to be enough to fix all that is wrong with this world, though. All we need to do is read the news to realize how screwed up it all is. I look at how governments treat their own people, and how humans treat each other, and I am not surprised to hear of all the doubts and depressions that we feel. I'm not shocked when someone starts questioning the meaning and reason for it all.

You're just going to have to believe me when I tell you that there is a reason. There is an end to all these things that are in play. The planet is not spinning endlessly on its axis or going around the sun for nothing. The sun itself is moving in a galaxy that is also moving in a universe that's expanding. The universe is a pretty big place, and there is meaning to it all. What that meaning is is something "above my pay grade", something I can't explain.

But you can feel that meaning in the rays of the sun on a cold day, in the medicine that is laughter on a sad day, and in the love that radiates from some of us to all of us each and every day. When you and I and other people choose not to lay around in our underwear all day but get out here (or there) and fight the good fight... There is purpose there. There is meaning there. There is something, maybe someone, there.

So go on and grab 2009 by the horns, twist its neck, and bring the year to its knees. Seize it! Get out there and give this world the meaning you know exists in it. Be a tool and force for good! Because forces do not cease until equal and greater forces act on them. Evil is a force. Love is stronger.

Have a safe and wonderful 2009, and don't forget that the stuff that stars are made from were blown a puff of life to make you. You're alive, so act like it.

The Drizzly Sh*ts

I caught a nasty gastrointestinal bug on Christmas Day that really brought me down most of the weekend. And I'm calling it a bug because I don't know if it was a virus, a bacterium, a parasite, or even a toxin. Heck, the way I felt, with fever, chills, and some nasty emptying of my bowels, it might as well have been Ebola. No, seriously, at least with Ebola people would say that I died from something cool and unusual. Not that anyone in the U.S. would be prepared to handle a case of Ebola. People in Africa can't even deal with a fat, old dictator in Zimbabwe, how can we expect them to contain Ebola? Or Cholera?

And that got me thinking. I felt tired, cranky, and had a terrible headache because I was dehydrated, but the thousands of people in Zimbabwe that are dying because of the cholera felt much worse, I'm sure. But we are hardly hearing anything about it from the mainstream media. And I wonder why?

The hot topic in foreign news is the current carpet-style bombing in the Gaza Strip in Palestine, with both sides pointing at each other and saying, "He started it!" The hot domestic topic right now is the economy, and in a couple of weeks, it will be the inauguration of Pres. Elect Barack Obama. I am willing to bet good money that NBC will not run a single story on the cholera outbreak in Zimbabwe until February, and that will be once it's all over. Very few news is reaching the eyes and ears of Americans about it.

Cholera is nothing to sneeze at. Imagine all the water in your body being emptied out in explosive diarrhea. Think that hangover was something? It is nothing compared to the dehydration. Gallons of water go through you per day... In one day you're dead if you don't replace them. And you're so weak from it that you can't even get up to go to the bathroom. People with cholera will usually have a hole in their cots so they can just poop straight into a bassinet. It's really something I don't want to see.

But I do see it because I'm crazy enough to pay attention to these things that happen in this world. And, feeling as sick as I did this weekend, my thoughts and prayers were still with the Zimbabwean people, hoping that enough men and women with brass balls and hearts to match moved in to help them. All the while, the rest of the world stands still while quickly moving on to the next big thing.

Solitaire State Trooper

Your tax dollars at work, Maryland!

Oh, Yeah!

It used to be that $55 would fill up Jeepster... Now $22 does the trick... What economic slowdown?

Waiting For The Train

I think he's running late.

We Have A Winner!!

Look what I won at the office Christmas party!

My Students

Taking an exam... They all look so pensive.

Tell It To The Judge!

At the soccer game last Friday night, one of our players was hit from behind by a disgruntled oponent. "He deserved it," said the agressor after he was sent off by the ref. Right after I thought about what a jackass the guy was, another thing came to my mind. I started to think how this was a good mirror image of humanity as a whole.

It is written and it was said that we humans like to live in darkness and look at the world through a mirror (darkly). That is, we see things with a human emotion and understanding that makes us look out for only ourselves, to live for within. We lie, cheat, and steal our way to success, it would seem, all the time. No one of us mortals is free from sin or guilt.

You're going to laugh at me when I tell you that soccer is yet another metaphor for life, but it is. We're all running around almost aimlessly (but together), chasing after a goal. We're all trying to state within the bounds of what we can do, but we look for the smallest edge to win. We do things when the ref is not looking, or argue our case when he or she does. And, worst of all, when the other player makes us mad, we kick away to get our own misled sense of retribution.

The only thing about real life is that The Ref is ALWAYS looking. There are always going to be consequences to our actions, and we are always going to get caught. But, because we don't get caught sometimes, our silly little brains lead us to believe that we won't get caught the next time. But can you really tell me of anyone who didn't face death in the end?

Listen, we are not free when there are no rules. When the referees are not around and the rules and the laws of life and games are thrown out, we are condemned to live at the whims of the criminal minds that go around kicking out our feet from under us. So please think twice before wanting to "live without rules"... The rules you'll live without are rules you can live with when you compare them to the alternative.

The Change We REALLY Need

I drove up to the parking lot the other day, and the attendant told me that fees had gone up $2 to $10 for the whole day. This isn't outrageous when you compare it to fees in DC or in NY, but I was a bit surprised in the proportion of the hike... 25%. The attendant told me that the City of Baltimore was taxing parking lots higher. Death and taxes, I guess.

But then I got to the office and found out that the Mayor of Baltimore, and the City Council, were giving themselves a pay hike of about 3%. This was done at a time when they are threatening to cut services, fire people, and ask others to take furloughs. The whole State of Maryland is in a jam, but the jam appears to be not so bad that those with the power to give themselves a pay raise are doing so.

This morning, I read that Mayor Dixon is defending her $3,700 a year pay increase, where she will now be paid $151,700 a year. She said, "To be honest with you, no, 2 1/2 percent, based on what I do seven days a week, 24 hours [a day], trying to raise a family, a daughter in college," when she was asked if she would, like others have, give her raise to charity. Well, that makes a lot of sense, doesn't it? I mean, she must be the only single mother with a 24/7 job and a daughter in college. Let's cut her a break.

The problem is, who's cutting a break for all the other single mothers and fathers who have to work 24/7, raise kids, and put them through college?

Some said change came on November 11, 2008, and it did. It's just not being reflected locally. And it's in our cities and towns that we need the change the most.