Point Zero

Happy New Year! We're starting fresh, sort of. If anyone thinks 2007 wasn't a long, strange year, I can't believe you were actually paying attention. We began with a new, Democratic-led Congress in Washington, and ended with an assassination in Pakistan. Along the way, 900 more American soldiers were killed in Iraq, 110 were killed in Afghanistan, and untold thousands around the world died needlessly. Now that 2008 is here, there is some sense that this will still be a year "on hold", waiting still another year for the end of the Bush Administration's "assault on reason", as Al Gore might describe it. With luck, there'll still be something left to salvage by 2009, but waiting still seems an insufficient response to the problems we're facing.

Amy Goodman's Democracy Now! broadcast reviewed 2007 with a two-part retrospective that aired on December 31st and today. Here are the links to the online webcasts of those shows:

2007 in Review: Power Politics and Resistance, Pt. 1
2007 in Review: Power Politics and Resistance, Pt. 2

Democracy Now! is somewhat of an acquired taste. Their budget is so low that their broadcasts can seem amateurish, but it's an incredible resource for news from a more international perspective. The 2007 retrospective certainly lacks the glitz that might have been provided by the major networks, had they seen fit to provide such programming, and as such they require a little effort on the part of the viewer, but they're well worth it. Two hours of video clips is hardly sufficient to qualify as a definitive look at 2007, but this panoramic view is useful as we begin to look ahead. Please take some time to look at these programs, to think about where we've been, and hopefully, what we can start to do to change things.

It's been a very strange year for me. I've seen my personal health decline somewhat alarmingly, but I've had some improvement from a breathing device called a Nebulizer. Of course, I might see much more improvement if I could fully break myself of smoking. I'm working on it, but the addiction has a serious hold on me. At least this nearly full year of withdrawing from active participation has allowed me to reflect on the world, and I've learned more than I thought possible. Really. I want to take a few minutes here to share some of my thoughts about last year and this, and I promise to lend my voice on this blog from time to time in the coming year, especially if I think I see something that should be getting more attention.

When I started this blog last April, I hoped that my MidWest upbringing and eclectic background might help to bridge the gap between the liberal and conservative elements of our society. I still believe I have something to contribute in that regard, and I still believe that most people want the same things I do, if we could only find better common approaches to solving problems. However, it's been awfully tough to remain calm and conciliatory these past several months, as I've had to admit that some bad things happen because bad people want them to happen, and that some of those bad people ostensibly work for us. I've gained considerable perspective by reading history, a lot of it, by many authors, and of course, by reading a number of books about today's political crises. I've seen that greed, religion and racism have set patterns of history in motion that are paralleled by many things in today's world, and I'm not sure how much the extensive knowledge I've gained is reflected through the public at large, most of whom are still too busy making a living to pay close attention. I suspect even the busiest of you are much less naive than when Nancy Pelosi first banged her gavel last January. I know many of you can't take the time to study that I have, and I wish I could provide more than the links and encapsulations that I have to offer, but I know you're listening, and I know you share my sense of urgency about these times. I'll try to help as I can, but I have to focus on my own development as well.

I believe we've had too little sense of the role we can play in the outcome. The presidential campaigns have reinvigorated our sense of participation somewhat, but for now I'm concerned that the current crop of politicians may still disappoint. That's caused me to retreat from my earlier, more active involvement in the campaigns, but it's no reason to give up hope. I believe more people all over the world are becoming aware that democracy is a powerful tool that has yet to be fully leveraged, and I think it's as much a time of great hope as one of great peril. But perils exist, and we can't afford to be personally complacent. It's really up to each one of us to start making our little bit of difference in the world. If we fail, at least we tried, but I don't want to fail.

We don't have all that many new years in a single span of life. Double digit numbers is pretty much all we can hope for, and I've already used up the bulk of those double digits. I'm not inclined, from a selfish standpoint, to be particularly patient about some of the changes I want to see. I want to see some real progress in my lifetime, and it's hard to see how many delays, and how many destructive backward movements, have occurred in the last few years. We've seen the gap between rich and poor return to the disparities of the Gilded Age at the turn of the twentieth century. We've seen the United States Government sanction illegal wars and torture. Worse yet, I've seen a long history of regressive behavior as far too central to United States policies, from the genocide of native Americans to violent imperialistic pursuits all over the world, that makes the Bush Administration seem less an aberration than simply an exposure of abuses that have been with us all along. The battles between the haves and the have-nots have been going on for thousands of years, so it seems foolish to think we can change things. I submit that we have more ability to do just that than you may realize. What we need to have is the will.

If I could recommend one book from 2007, it would probably be Paul Krugman's The Conscience of a Liberal. It's not that I think the book tells the whole story. There are dark elements that I don't believe are given sufficient weight in Mr. Krugman's book. But it's a very hopeful book, and I believe that much of that hope is realistic. It's good to remind ourselves that we live in a country where we can still have a say in how things should be done, and about the really positive things we can achieve on a "bipartisan" basis, as it were, when we cut through the rhetoric and begin to treat each other as human beings. I believe Mr. Krugman went to a lot of effort to make this book an easy read, and I heartily recommend it. We need to start 2008 with a sense of hope, and this book can generate some of that feeling.

It may still be that religion is both the greatest hope and the greatest threat for humanity. I don't personally believe that Jesus would be anti-science if he walked the earth in the 21st century. His approach was appropriate for 2000 years ago, but overall, His words reveal an open mind, not a closed and narrow one. I still think we have trouble understanding His message. His focus has always been on what's in the core of your heart, not what's visible of the outer trappings. I think we need to revisit our attitude to our neighbor, whoever he or she may be, and rediscover our common bonds regardless of race, color, and yes, creed. If you can truly start loving your neighbor as yourself, I think you'll start to see that religion means a lot more than which church you belong to, and how much work we need to do to turn things around. If we keep hurtling down the path of I'm right, you must be wrong, 2008 might make 2007 seem like the good old days.

I think I've "learned" a lot from my persistence with meditation through 2007. I'll admit my level of achievement, if we're tracking these things, is pretty low compared to the Dalai Lama. I've had occasion to benefit from persistence before, however. I want my meditation studies to be my third, and perhaps final, accomplishment in this life, and I believe that goal stems from a desire to continue to be useful to society in some small way, and not from a desire to retreat. I've mentioned Point Zero before with regard to meditation, and I've confessed that I've not really reached it. Actually, I think Point Zero is somewhat of a misnomer. I think it's really more like Point 50%, as in centering the personality and regaining balance. Along the way, I do need to be able to stop my wandering thoughts, however, so the terminology can be confusing. But I don't know if there's ever some really dramatic moment when we become enlightened and reborn. I think it's more like we're all pretty well enlightened by now, but we're challenged to respond to life in an enlightened way. Meditation can help to toughen the mind and reflexes and allow more appropriate, less self-conscious, responses to our environment. I shouldn't say much more until my experience is better. I think I've had some small flashes of insight, momentary but quickly forgotten and irreclaimable, that still have strengthened my faith to continue just trying to shut up and listen. And on occasion, if I think I have something to say, I'll write something here.

Meantime, have a safe and happy 2008. I have high hopes for all of us.