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Move Aside Old Man
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Note to my readers: I wrote this piece at the end of the millennial year.
What a year it has been. It looks like the bridge to the twenty-first century is in desperate need of repair. How could things have gone so wrong? Perhaps our hopes were unrealistic.
Hopes for a Middle East peace settlement were dashed after Ariel Sharon made his now-famous walk to the sacred Temple Mount. We can only hope that cooler heads will prevail and a final settlement can still be made. Why must both sides continue to provoke the other side into action? It just doesn't make any sense to me. I suppose thousands of years of hatred cannot be dissipated in such a short period of time.
The peace process in Northern Ireland continues to be very fragile. Only time will tell what the future of that unsettled region will hold. May God's love prevail over religious bigotry. Let us pray for peace in that region.
The stock market is in a shambles world-wide. Particularly the high-tech sector has been hit hard. I guess it proves the old adage. If it goes up fast, it will come down even faster.
It appears we may be heading into a recession. I guess 10 years is about as long as the tired economy can be sustained with constant growth. It looks like the longest boom on record is about to end.
We had an unbelievably messed up election. I hope the closely divided congress can prevent conservatism from becoming too deeply entrenched. We don't want to lose all the gains which have been made in recent years.
However, there were a few bright spots in the year. It never is all good, nor all bad. Let us not despair when we don't get everything we hoped for.
On the brighter side, we have made great progress in establishing the International Space Station. The future looks much better for space exploration than it did after the crash of the Challenger. I still think that space exploration holds the key for future progress in our society.
We are not at war. Even though some of our boys are in harm's way around the world, we are not in a shooting war. That's something to be thankful for.
The rapture did not occur in the year 2000. It looks like the batting average of the doomsayers is still .000. I hope the bombardment of end-of-the-world stuff cools for a little while. All these religious zealots forgot that Jesus told them; "No man knows when the end will come."
There are places in the world where democracy is really taking hold. Who would have thought that South Africa would make the progress that they have made. It goes to show that a forgiving spirit has more success than a vengeful spirit. This is a lesson that the rest of the world needs to learn.
May we as individuals do all we can to promote peace and justice in a troubled world. That is our task both now and in the future. Let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with me.
I wish you and yours the best in this new year. We know that it is an imperfect world, but we do the best we can to make our own little corner of the world a little brighter. Happy New Year!