So the Holidays are finally over and millions of people awoke this morning, depressed beyond measure and desperately trying to remember where they used to work. I have no doubt that highways all over the land were witness to more than a few commuters bemoaning their need to return to the grind. But all good things must end, and the holiday season remains on that list.
As we welcome the nascent new year, laid out before us is an assemblage of days with a depth of potential that few before it have shared; In just over two weeks this country will welcome the first black President in its brief but colorful history. The change he has promised, and seems determined to bring should see this land returned once more to the level of justice, dignity and worldwide acclaim it so richly deserves after the malfeasant gang rape of the last eight years.
One symptom of the current malaise is our imploding economy. Every major sector of business has been scarred by decline and thousands of decent, hard-working people are now fighting the financial hardships of working less hours, while an uncountable legion of innocent workers have watched both their jobs and their homes disappear overnight.
Illness can touch even the strongest of bodies, and the collective body of the American people has sadly proved no exception. But the fault is not yours, it belongs to your leaders. The billions wasted pursuing war-mongering delusions in the Arabian world could have protected this country from the current decline; But apparently, murdering innocent people in a sovereign nation took obsessive priority over protecting and serving those of your own. And the risks of redress against those who committed this barbaric crusade seem as high as the level of truth in the redacted reports that were used as its motive: None. And that in itself is a crime.
This is a great and glorious land; Of that fact there can be no debate or dissension. The last few years have inflicted some scars and ruined some lives, but ultimately the body will rise, recover and triumph. Beneath its bloodied surface lies a country whose boundless capacity for opportunity, innovation, growth and success has secured the abiding and rightful admiration of every sentient nation on Earth; And stretched before us is a fresh new year in which those of you so blessed as to call this wondrous land your natural home can reaffirm this truth to the world.
The year is new; Its pages so far unwritten. Resolve to play your rightful part in their active creation and the resultant work could astonish the world. I await the outcome with assured expectation, and leave the last word to Longfellow…
“Sail on, Oh Ship of State!
Sail on, Oh Union strong and great.
Humanity with all its fears;
With all the hope of future years;
Is hanging, breathless, on thy fate.”
