Looking Ahead

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New Year

I surely hope that you had a pleasant New Year’s celebration. We sure did. Peaceful and calm as it was, it was quite glorious in its own right. A buffet of cold cuts, dips and veggies was there to graze on throughout the day. The parade was seen in part, but we devoted most of the day to watching the bowl games.

If my favorite teams winning is some indication of 2009 getting off to a good start, then so be it. The University of Iowa beat some team called the “gamecocks” which should label them losers from the start. That was in the Outback Bowl. Oh by the way, I detest how all these corporate idiots now get the name of bowls.  I simply hate it.  About the only hold out is the Rose Bowl, but even that carries a Citi logo. Sad, how corporate America has intruded into every facet of our lives.

The second game, well that didn’t go well at all. MSU lost to Georgia. Truthfully, neither team played well. The third game, the Rose Bowl was another success. USC trounced Penn. Now I deeply love the USC Trojans. I love the horse, and I think they have the best sounding school song of anyone.

I’m wondering what the world Paterno is doing at Penn. He is the coach but sits up in a box (apparently he is too frail for the sidelines.) He doesn’t even go into the lockeroom at half time. As many times as they swung the cameras to picture him, not once did he appear to be talking to anyone. Some coach. I guess the poor old guy just can’t let go. Figures he will die if he stops coaching, though I doubt what he does could anymore be called coaching.

Anyway, the holidays are now over. I have spent a lot of time watching old movies and reading and knitting. I’m feeling quite satisfied. The food was good. The house is passably clean. I have hopes of making it to church on Sunday, but a weather system is coming in on you guessed it, Sunday, so that remains a question mark.

I am finding it mighty hard to find anything in the political news that I wish to blog about. Same old stuff. War, war and more war. I’m as sick of the Israelis and Palestinians as I can imagine. How long is this insanity to go on? Until every last one of them is dead? It seems hopeless, and I am tired of hopeless causes.

I want to be filled with hope and think about hopeful things. Right now that seems to negate all things political. So what am I to do? I love blogging, but I have lost my motivation it seems with the election. I feared this might happen. Now it has, and I’m not sure what I should do.

My life seems good. I have faith and hope in the future, and look forward to the day. I get things done,  and I enjoy at least some of my tasks. I’m diligent so far about the treadmill, however much I get bored. I’m praying a rosary during my time of walking, and that helps.

I guess I not feeling feisty or ready for the fight right now. I want some peace and good will. I’m sticking to things that point that way, and away from strife, discord, and finger pointing. I’m in a good place, but I suspect a rather introspective one. Perhaps its that cocooning thing, wanting to just hunker down until the trees bud out again, and life revives. I’m tired of being hurt and angered by a world gone mad at every turn.

I sit and wonder, how do the Bernie Madoff’s sleep at night? I really wonder about that. I mean how can you do this to so many people? I don’t care especially about the rich fat cats who lost millions through his scheme, but how did he take the life savings of the little people, knowing they would be left with nothing? I mean how do you reconcile all that in your head? I wonder that about all the corporate crooks, all the political ones, and all the rest in general. How do they live with it?

I can’t understand it, I can’t bear sometimes to work against it. It just all seems too alien and apart from humanness. Maybe I’m the prideful one, thinking I’m better. My own sins are before me, I struggle with them, and I ask for forgiveness. Do they ever? Perhaps.

I am just about finished with Bonhoeffer’s book on Christian discipleship. He makes quite a point about not judging others. That we are called as Christians to love and never stop loving. He was quite certain that we were not to become part of the political process as such. I wonder if he felt differently after his experiences in the concentration camps and working for the underground? I wonder how that impacted his faith. I haven’t read his letters from prison. I’m sure they are enlightening. I don’t think I’m up for the dark place they must explore.

I feel a bit like Scarlet O’Hara and her solution to problems deemed too large and broad to deal with. “I just won’t think about that until tomorrow,” or something to that effect. I always found her answer childish, but I don’t know, it seems practical at some times in life. There is just too much to swallow at one time. Best to just refuse to allow the brain to go there.

I’m determined that this year will be better than last. Last year was the year from hell. Almost nobody speaks well of it. Yet as I examine the world today, it seems pretty much like it was in December. I wanted it to magically change, but alas it didn’t.

Well, at least winter is a full 1/3 over with! By my calculations anyway. And my calculations are really all that count, to me at least. You can have three more weeks of winter if you choose. I am keeping my eye firmly locked onto March 1. Course that will be delayed a whole freaking day longer because it’s a leap year! Just my luck!