Mental Meanderings on the First Day of 2009

Whether you raucously celebrated the night away or quietly met the first seconds of 2009 with a hearty toast in the company of a small party of eight, six or one: HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Mine was more like the latter. Even the toast was with a nice Shiraz from Argentina rather than a bubbly and it worked just fine with a feast of a dish I simply know as Backalar .. . at least that is what it sounds like. It is a traditional dish of countries on the Adriatic Coast and my husband made it. He learned how to make it from his father. It was delish!

Today was a rather quiet day. No, no Polar Swim for me, did not even go to cheer on the foolhardy. The morning was magical as big snow flakes came swirling down. Dawn had not broken yet, so the white against the dark was nothing short of spectacular. I thought I would wait till the darkness faded and go for an early morning walk and take some photos of this first day of the year 2009. No sooner had I finished my coffee than the snow turned to rain, and then the rain stopped and it just turned out to be a grissly gray day. Better suited for reading by the fireside … or just thinking.

Of course, I got to thinking about what 2009 might hold for us? If only we could gaze into the crystal ball and see what’s in store … or do we really want to look into the future? What would we do differently if we knew? Or, if knowing, would we even put out the effort? Would we perhaps just say that we are powerless? Would it kill our innate will to survive, stifle our ambitions, or dispel our dreams? Perhaps. Thoughts to ponder on this first day of a brand new year.

In a few weeks our neighbors to the south will be swearing in a new president who ran a campaign on CHANGE. I think that is admirable but my fear is that those who voted for Mr. Obama will expect miracles of a man who has taken on an enormous responsibility for a great nation and give little thought to applying it to themselves. I think we should.

If there was just one thing I could wish for as change, it would be that we as human beings begin to take responsibility for ourselves. I think that much of what is wrong with the world today is this sense of entitlement that we somehow developed, particularly in what we term as the First World and specifically in North America.

When my parents and their parents were growing up, there were no financial safety nets. Life was tough. I think of my parents living in Japan during WWII and the post war years that followed. Those were very difficult times. They had to make their own way to survive. Dad lost his business during the war and it took all of my and my sibling’s growing up years for him to rebuild it. I think of my grandparents having to leave all behind in Russia when the communists took over. They too had to make their own way to survive. My grandfather had to start a new life for himself and his family in China, a country that was culturally strange and a language that was foreign to him.

Neither my parents nor grandparents looked for a handout. They never felt that anyone should look after them, that anyone owed them anything at all: not a living, not a job, not a business. They faced and picked up the gauntlet that was responsibility writ large and worked to put food on the table, to clothe and provide shelter. There were no countries for them to flee to as refugees, there were no governments giving them any money or helping them to integrate into a new society. There was just themselves.

We were taught early on that life did not come with rights or privileges. In both my grandparent’ and parent’s cases they had to take responsibility for their own life because if they did not take that responsibility they would not have had a life. I think that most of us, if we think of our parents and grandparents, will have had a background which if not similar, has at least the ring of familiarity. So when is it that we became a nation of marshmallow people? You know, soft, with no backbone?

There are some things that are beyond the scope of one individual to change: one individual cannot change the financial crisis; one individual cannot stop the many wars that are being fought today (46 at last count); nor can one individual solve the global warming crisis. But if every individual begins to live with a sense of responsibility rather than entitlement, great changes will be brought about. What if each would but choose to take responsibility for our own financial wellbeing? What if we decide to build bridges instead of walls in our own personal relationships? What if we choose to use products that are earth friendly? This we can do.

A butterfly in the Amazon Jungle moves its wings and sets off a ripple effect in the earth's atmosphere. The reverberations created and set in motion by that one small, seemingly insignificant act, are witnessed as storms and typhoons in Asia. Let us each be a butterfly.

2009 … a year to rebuild, to strengthen and to create change.