Sunday, January 1, 2017

The Calendar Changes

"That sun came up in the East again, didn't it?"

I know coaches have used this line, or some variation of it, as consolation for a player who made a crucial mistake.  It is an age old story about the rhythm of life.  No matter what happens, tragic or insignificant, life goes on.

The year that just ended caused a lot of people to step back and look at themselves.  The source, whether it be the death of a beloved celebrity, the outcome of an election, or the changes that accompany life, are in a rhythm and timing that defies understanding.  The full effects of what happened may be immediate, or not defined for generations.

We might elate or despair in events.  They are events, things that happen.  They do not define us.  We define ourselves in our reaction to the events.  It is the one area we have been given freewill and control.  Your beliefs provide the root of your actions and the sum total is character.

On the whole, I saw much good in American Character in 2016.  We generally went about our business, took care of our lives and families, and continued to do the things that built a great lifestyle, the most affluent in the world.  I see great promise in completing our responsibilities.  Whether it was the military defending our honor at the possible cost of life, to voting, to running our businesses and working our jobs, we kept moving forward.  Great things are done while moving.

I saw much to despair in American Character in 2016.  The fact that we had no reasonable choices for new leadership of our country defined a country deeply divided in it's beliefs, and the actions came out regrettable regardless of the outcome.  The point for most despair is the lack of courage to accept an event and plan a new strategy to succeed.  It seemed half of America, stunned in disbelief, shut down briefly.

In the words of Neal Peart of Rush, "He knows changes aren't permanent, but change is."

The rhythm will continue.  We will, too.

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