Year In Review

It seems that the week between Christmas and New Year precipitates a cascade of "year's best," and "year's worst" lists along with "year-in-review" media pieces as New Year's Day approaches. I'll pass, but I can't help noting the list provided by one of my favorite humorists, Pulitzer Prize winning Dave Barry (please read the whole thing), who notes that he has been accused in past years of being to negative, so this year he's going to make his list positive. He begins his piece thusly:

1. We didn’t hear that much about Honey Boo Boo [in 2015].

2.

OK, we’ll have to get back to you on Good Things 2 through 10. We apologize, but 2015 had so many negatives that we’re having trouble seeing the positives. It’s like we’re on the Titanic, and it’s tilting at an 85-degree angle with its propellers way up in the air, and we’re dangling over the cold Atlantic trying to tell ourselves: “At least there’s no waiting for the shuffleboard courts!”

Are we saying that 2015 was the worst year ever? Are we saying it was worse than, for example, 1347, the year when the Bubonic Plague killed a large part of humanity?

Yes, we are saying that.

In thinking back on the year, I can't help thinking of a crude comment that a old friend used to make now and then when he became really frustrated with the powers that be, He'd exclaim, "We're being led by assholes and assassins."

2015 exemplifies that sage wisdom.

You kinda get the feeling that the folks who are supposed to be our "leaders" are more concerned about the "shuffleboard courts" than they are about the icebergs. In fact, they would argue that icebergs that sink ships are "extremists" and have nothing whatsoever to do with ice or cold. In fact, those who think otherwise are "iceophobic."

I'm spending this day in transit between Mumbai, India and Miami, currently sitting in the Zurich airport. With all of the problems we have with the federal government in the United States, our incompetent, dishonest and highly ideological national leadership, the herd of corrupt, dishonest, demagogic, stupid, or uninspiring 2016 presidential candidates (on both sides), our weak economy and frightening national debt, and our weak, ineffectual interaction with the rest of the world, I'll still be very glad to be home.

Happy New Year!