About this new year. Do I have the necessary equipment in my tool kit to cope with all the challenges I know are out there? It's too late to order new stuff, so I'll just have to go with what I've got. Many of the issues are beyond my ability to control. I can't whip up a batch of vaccine, although I can hound the people who control my access to the wonder juice to help me get my share.
I cannot find the means of rounding up every one of those individuals who invaded our nation's capital on the 6th of January and make them listen to me unload hard facts that have lain dormant in my mind since those days at the University of Oregon pursuing my degree in History. About the wonder of how our democracy even made it through the complex obstacles of the founding and then continued to weather the continuing horrendous challenges. Without some penetrating lubricant to coat my words it would never change any of their beliefs, but it would make me feel fine.
Whether I'm ready or not, all that 2021 stuff is going to come rolling in. I probably have not anticipated much of it. It triggers a Glenn Miller song from way back in that other century:
Last night I saw upon the stair, a little man who wasn't there
He wasn’t there again today, oh, how I wish he’d go away
When I came home last night at three, the man was waiting there for me
But when I looked around the hall, I couldn’t see him there at all.
Bring it on.
