A Belated Welcome to 2009

Welcome to 2009! What a LONG freaking year we just came through; I wish I could say unscathed, but unfortunately that’s not the case. A great deal happened, and much of it was not what I would call positive. Between the election and all the controversy surrounding it, natural disasters, death and the economy, it’s been pretty dismal for most of us.

Lao-Tzu, a Chinese philosopher who lived 2600 years ago said, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” This has been one of my favorite quotes for many years. If you stop to consider the meaning, it’s very profound, and if you really think about it deeply, you’ll find ways we can apply it to our lives today.

All of us struggle through each day, despite our boasts about the modern trends and giant steps we’ve made in science and technology. We’ve found that all this fantastic technology hasn’t made our lives any better than they were in the past. Even though the general opinion has always been that bigger is better, we have to question if it is. We also have to question at what cost does this way of thinking prove itself to be true? Take a good look around you and tell me if you see the joy in people or a world in harmony, improved by iPods or text messaging?

Rather, we see more unhappiness and distress than there’s ever been, and much of it is our own fault. We don’t seem to understand what we do to ourselves.We bought into the idea that we “needed” to have all this “stuff”. It was easy when the economy was good. We had the attitude that we just had to buy into things that even though they were beyond our means, and suddenly two incomes were required to support our desires to have bigger and better, we thought we wanted. People bought big, expensive houses, we call them McMansions here, and when money was good and jobs were secure, this wasn’t a problem; but now that way of thinking has come back to bite people on their collective asses. When you turn on the TV, the news if filled with how the housing market is in crisis, jobs are being eliminated, businesses are closing, homes are being foreclosed on, and people are not able to maintain what they thought they wanted in accordance with what they actually have to support themselves.

I think that we got into trouble because we no longer listened to the voice of common sense within us due to our lust for “things” and “stuff”. We grasped at the image of promised goodies, ignoring the loss of our freedom along the way. Because when you really look at it, all this stuff, and the focus on the almighty dollar, has hindered our freedom. People have had to work longer and harder to maintain their newly gained treasure trove, and in doing so they lost the freedom to relax, and the freedom to do what they wanted to do when they wanted to do it. The glitter has faded away as reality hit us squarely between the eyes. We’ve lost ourselves as individuals, while focusing on false promises, and our lust for shiny new things.

This year we’ve listened to political promises for change, but at what cost does change occur in a land of people who are so out of balance, looking to gratify their need for MORE? You would think that we would learn, but we seem to make the same mistakes over and over again. Just like our hunger and greed for the dollar and possessions, our hunger and greed for change for the betterment of our lives has replaced our common sense, that small voice within us all, even though we should realize that the bigger and better idea has failed us dismally in the recent past. What’s wrong with this picture? We’re grasping at straws, looking for one person to lead us out of the desert of our economy and hard times, rather than taking that one step for ourselves. Are we just to blind or too incredibly stupid to see that these changes can’t be a temporary thing, but a new way of life for everyone?

Change begins within each of us, with a single step in the way we think, act and live. Some people find change under the leadership of a Priest or Rabbi in their houses of worship. Some people find change under a starry desert sky, or gazing at the sunlight glistening off of ocean waves. Some find it in the words of their political leaders. Whatever it takes to bring our hearts and souls into balance once again is a much better goal to strive for than wishing we could afford a new car or a bigger house. A major change in the way we've lived, not by our own choosing by any means, has been foisted on us this past year. And although the path has been harsh at times, and the reality of life hit us like a ton of bricks, the lessons along the way have been a blessing for some of us.

I learned very quickly that sometimes it takes a hard blow for people to realize how good their lives have been, and that losing all their precious “things” suddenly doesn’t hold a candle to what life is really meant to be about.

In keeping with this mindset, I wish all of us a Happy New Year, filled with the things that really count; friends, family, and health. None of which can be bought or sold on the stock market, and are more precious than the almighty dollar. If you don’t realize how important any of this is, maybe it’s time for you to take that single step on your journey back to the things that are really significant. Let’s make a resolution for 2009, for change, real change in our lives, to be more than just a buzzword.