End of Year Complexities

I have to admit my usual reference to biking doesn't work. A guy can't spend much time on a bike, safely, when winter suddenly arrives with the single-digit readings and varieties of snow and ice. I guess on that note it is time to check all the parts, prepare for streets clearing and weather warming.

The holiday season, generically speaking, is an interesting progress. Halloween, if we claim it as a holiday, is barely closed, discount prices on orange and black candies posted, when retailers are focusing our attention on Thanksgiving. American history connects Thanksgiving with a group of pre-colonial settlers surviving a harsh winter. Thus, the reference to being thankful. They had reason to be thankful. At least a few of them survived when they shouldn't.

Even with the progression to turkeys, only slightly accurate cartoon versions of history and calorie comas on a day we are encouraged to be thankful for what we have, it is still a time to recognize how well we in the United States are blessed.

Barely a month later, the Christmas holiday encourages us to give to others. God gave us His Son. Likewise, we should be willing to recognize others with what we have.

Then we barely recover from the latest of feasts when we have the new year. The social habit, tradition if you prefer, is to make a list of goals or resolutions. Ironically, many of those resolutions involve living simpler and dissolving the debt from buying gifts we can't afford for people we may not even like.

If I were to list some resolutions, I would start with our government and society. I would want a higher level of moral and ethical expectation from our leaders. The idea of a slush fund to pay off harassment and sex assault accusers is insulting. I would want the national healthcare system, which seems almost inescapable, to include a hard look at costs, not just how to pay them.

What if voters expected legislators and congressmen to have an honest work resume, not just a list of government appointments? It is hard to represent a population group if you have never been part of that group.

As important as anything, we need to to look at both sides of the immigration issue. It is not a new question to ask what any given immigrant has to offer our country. We should all be asking if that question is still being asked. We need to also keep our government accountable with enforcing the immigration rules and laws already in place. The laws, on any book, are useless if they are arbitrarily enforced. Part of the imbalance in the discussion is how does a country show compassion for those whose country is in turmoil, without opening the door to an unidentified combatant. Enemies of the state are on both sides of our national borders.

I would also want people to see recognize we are still in a state of fear and hate. It doesn't matter if you think mankind evolved from a puddle of whatever or was created, humanity is not perfect. What if we keep symbols of the past as a reminder of what we must not do twice?

For my own list, I hope to bike more. It is exercise and time to connect mentally, spiritually and with the environment. I hope to take more weekend vacations. There are many places we haven't seen, people we want to stay connected with, a short drive away. I also want to make sure people I love know I do, and value things that are most important.