HAPPY NEW YEAR

Charlotte Anselmo wrote a New Years prayer I have read over and over so many times and I want to quote the very last part of it for all of you. She said, “The New Year lies before you like a spotless track of snow. Be careful how you tread on it for every mark will show.” To those of us who grew up in the northern states and lived in the country, you know just what I am talking about when you get up in the morning after a fresh snowfall and you look around at that soft white blanket that has covered every existing imperfection and suddenly you see the world in a whole new light. I know, and you know that when the clock rings twelve on this New Years Eve, we can’t shed the baggage that follows us from the years gone by. That the only thing that has really changed is the date. That our bills, our problems and even our sins will not be erased, without some outside action on our part. But for so many of us it can be a call to action and a new beginning, if we want it to be, even if it’s actually not a reprieve. Instead it’s a benchmark if you will, a line in the sand and a new beginning for the calendar year ahead. It’s somewhat synonymous with that new snowfall that just last night covered up all that ugly dirt and imperfections. They’re gone from the eye but yet still there underneath that snowy white mantel but at least for now you don’t have to deal with them. You can focus on something new. How would I want the world to look if I had any say in the design? Well for one, I would like us all to be stripped of the greed that permeates our society. It seems so foolish that in a world, with enough room for everyone and enough food to feed everyone that this greed even exists. Number two I would make every effort to preserve this planet for the ages. There are those who find this kind of thinking, getting in the way of their efforts to make money. They don’t care about tomorrow and they don’t care who they harm. It’s like standing on a tree branch and sawing it off close to the tree. In the end we’ll all fall, rich or poor, including the person with the saw. We build up great societies and then we destroy them in wars. Then we wait a few years and we repeat the cycle. There is in my church a song we sing that say’s, “Let there be peace on earth and let it began with me.” Speaking only about our own country and speaking for myself we seem to be fighting and killing all over the globe with no positive results. At least as it applies to peace. It’s like war is big business and that is part of the price of doing business. If we want peace in this world we need to practice what we preach--but that’s right were not preaching it. Were not even talking about it. With that attitude how can it possibly begin with us? Life on this earth is precious for all of us. But one would think, at least for us human beings that we would try and refine the product even more. We have done that with almost every tangible thing we have ever made. Try to make it bigger and better over time but for some reason we can’t do it with our attitudes toward each other. Maybe this New Years Day would be a good time to start. Yes, let it begin with me.