A New Year

I think the key word in the phrase 'Happy New Year', isn't happy, but new. From what I have seen, most agree 2016 was a difficult year. It seems almost superficial to say the year was hard due to politics or celebrity deaths, although Debbie Reynolds dying a day after her daughter was beautifully gut wrenching. People have experienced real loss and real tragedy. Trump monopolized the news, but not because of any importance, but because of ratings and money driven networks. There are real news stories of unthinkable tragedies experienced by humans in all corners of the globe.

Trump has proven one thing, at least to me. Most people in North America struggle to think systemically. To care about problems outside of what directly impacts them. My hope for 2017 is that T, and the hate and selfishness that, although he did not invent, he cultivated and normalized, quickly becomes old, becomes tired and most of all, becomes unacceptable. I don't think I have watched more than 5 minutes of CNN since the election. When it seemed impossible to believe the unbelievable, CNN and T were mildly entertaining. Now that it is a reality, it is more than unthinkable, it is un-explainable. Pundits are trying, but they have no clue.
 

But, new year means new and I have hope that most will be so tired of the stain and heaviness T has brought over so many will be something many want to separate from. I hate talking or writing about T, but after the election it was sort of freeing to remove him from my TV, my internet browsing and from my thoughts. The lesson is that if you want to bring positive change into your life, you have to remove the negative, not matter how many others want to shove it down your throat. My removal of all things negative even meant throwing out my old DVD of Two Weeks Notice due to a certain cameo. Thinking beyond what is close, to what is far away and far more important has been a good thing. T, or any negative force,, has no power unless we let it in. In 2016, I let it in and am grateful as 2017 begins, I have exorcised it out