The words don’t come too easily, as I have a poor memory, so please bear with me. There are some things that happened this decade that I think are very important and for that I may be able to transcend my failings. 2009 is a milestone because it represents the transition into the second decade of the millennium. We’ve experienced a lot in this decade. We’ve turned a blind eye to big business and elected an imbecile to the highest office in our Nation… twice. We’ve watched gas prices shoot to record highs. We’ve watched millions of people lose their jobs and entire industries move elsewhere. We’ve watched an insane President send our children to Vietnam, Part Deux and claim victory over nothing. We saw an entire city obliterated by nature in front of our eyes and watched in horror as our government ignored it.

Most of all, though, we watched as two airplanes full of non-military passengers plunged into the Twin Towers, one plane go down before reaching its target thanks to the sacrifice of its passengers, and one more plane strike a part of the Pentagon. Over 4,000 were mindlessly slaughtered to satisfy the twisted sensibilities of a radical Jihadist who is even hated by other Muslims. Radicalism is the real threat here, not Muslims. Read Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin. Don’t quibble. Just do it. I cannot explain it well enough without a lot more words.

The horror and sadness of 9/11 still reaches into my soul and wrenches me breathless, my heart brimming with shame and sorrow. We need to figure out why we are so hated by these radicals, since the effort of attempting to wipe them out will only cause the movement to grow stronger (there’s that whole Martyr thing, you know). I can tell you that we need to stop being the loud, swaggering, asshole tourist-types of the planet Earth. Our capitalistic society thing is only working so well and won’t last forever. There need to be some fundamental changes in how we operate, and part of that means that some of our unwavering greed and that classic American selfishness will need to be abated. I’m often amazed that supposedly intelligent people can’t grasp the concept that we’re all in this together.

We also need to stop calling the US a “Christian Nation”. Being raised in an Episcopalian home helped me see that not all Christians are Christian in action, despite the lip service. It is the deed on all levels which makes one important. Its not about being lauded for your works. Its about the works alone. Calling America a “Christian Nation” is abhorrent on many levels. I would think that the most obvious is that we’re not all flipping Christians. There are millions of us, and we’re all Buddhists, Jews, Muslims, and a bunch of others I can’t recall off the top of my head. Are those who call the US a “Christian Nation” saying that everyone else isn’t an American? I’d be pleased to challenge that all the way up to the Supreme Court.

The other aspect of the “Christian Nation” concept which makes me cringe is that Christians don’t exactly have a solid track record when it comes to performing the “Will of God”, as it were. How Christian is it to molest children? Yeah. That’s not limited to the Catholic Church, kind readers. How Christian is it to amass millions of dollars for your own gain in the so-called name of God, and then live high on the hog while countless homeless children are starving or homeless? If God does exist, I’m sure he’d have something to say about that. Even the son of God, Jesus, lived simply, and these assholes who are rich because of money people gave them in the name of their faith live in mansions and travel in private jets. Wow. Are we that blind?

I’m going to wrap it up here, but first I want to say something about one of the seminal moments in our history, the same history which has been riddled with theft (the lands of the Native Americans), murder (the killing of those same Native Americans), and slavery. Barack Obama was the first non-white guy to be elected President of the United States of America and to preside over a shitload of stupid, petty assholes (the House and the Senate, of course). Praise be to Obama for being the smartest guy in the room. The trick is that the GOP needs to stop the sour grapes bullshit and start working towards some stuff. Do you really want to be known as the people who willingly sought out the potential genocide of millions of people because they were refused health care? If that doesn’t sway you, mister and misses stoneheart, think about the children. Should they go without healthcare? The state benefits are not enough and aren’t consistent enough, so stuff that one in your hat.

That’s all I have right now. Happy New Year, all, and may 2010 bring a better life to as many people as possible. The only way it will work is if each of us reaches out in some small way to those in need around us. Enough people each do one small thing, and it will get big pretty fast. Mark my words.

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