Ring in Another Year!

Do you remember the old comic strip, "Calvin and Hobbes"?

Calvin expounded to Hobbes:

"I'm getting disillusioned with these new years. They don't seem very new at all! Each new year is just like the old year! Here another year has gone by and everything's still the same! There's still pollution and war and stupidity and greed! Things haven't changed! I say what kind of future is this? I thought things were supposed to improve! I thought the future was supposed to be better!"

Hobbes response:

"The problem with the future is that it keeps turning into the present."

Bill Watterson, the creator of this comic, got to the essence of things in a single strip. We may not have the genius of this cartoonist, but we can mull over his wisdom.

There will always be issues such as conflicts, greed, corruption, bribery. Those things will not change. What will change is our willingness to continue the fight to make the world a better place. Determination, fortitude, and an "I care" attitude do, and will continue to improve our world, piece by piece by piece, bit by bit. We may not see it, but this I believe, that we ourselves during this struggle to better our world, change ourselves. Each year we can become a stronger, wiser, more compassionate person. Some of this wisdom, filled with hope and love, may pass on to our children and those we touch during our passage through the many new years of our life.

Happy new year to all of you from this serene corner of the Black Hills of South Dakota!