Monday Wut Wut: In with the Old, In with the New.

[CatInASuit]

2012 has arrived. A time for reflecting on the year gone by and looking forward to the year yet to come.

According to some people, the Mayan calendar says this will be the final year before it all ends. I hope they are as accurate as some other apocalyptic predictions about 2011. The year is likely to be dominated by the economy whether it be the rise or fall of the US, the BRIC countries coming to the fore, or even if the EU can save itself.

However, there are some major events to look forward to, for me at least. The Olympics are coming to town, London to the rest of the world and the Queen should be celebrating her Diamond Jubilee. In the USA, the election for the World's most powerful person, the POTUS, will take place. I'm sure there are other of importance around the globe.

But to put this into perspective, these are ephemeral events, their impact will last maybe a decade in the case of most, a century for other. But still fleeting by comparison to some. Near to where I live, there is a church, just a small church, still used, still open and nearly a thousand years old. There are other places like it up and down the country, reminders of things gone by. Just to look on them is to gain a bit of perspective about what these events can mean, and in reality, very few of them mean that much.

The problems we have nowadays are not unique. The are unique to us, because we are living through them for the first time. But most of them have happened before, in one form or another. The human race got through them than, and it will likely get through them again. At some point in the future, it may even learn not to do the wrong things in the first place and then its future kin will thank them for it.

[Sarahfeena]

I love your Wut Wuts, CIAS.

I've been thinking a lot this year about Time Marching On. I'll be 45 this year (which is kind of blowing my mind...sort of an arbitrary number to seem at, but for some reason I am), and my younger child will be going into school, not my baby anymore. Every day we seem the same as the day before, and yet we don't stay where we are.

I had three friends die this year, all under age 60. They all seemed to me to be the same as they always were...I never thought of them as being at an age where they would have to face their mortality. It's hard to imagine having to do so myself, and yet we all should be keenly aware that our days are numbered so that we'll get all there is is get out of life while it's there to be gotten. And yet there's a weird comfort in knowing that, as you said, CIAS, that things don't really change...the world doesn't need me, or you, it just needs to keep turning and the rest will sort itself out.

[Zuul]

Oh my gosh, Sarah. I'd somehow mentally subtracted about three years off of your age.

I'm not worried about the world ending or anything of the sort, but I am worried about change and people's response to it. Economic systems change, political systems change, circumstances change, cultures change. It can be slow and happen over the course of lifetimes, or it can happen in a horrible instant, as so many things changed back in 2001. Here in Wisconsin, our economy is doing absolutely terribly and instead of creating jobs as all of these state budget cuts and tax breaks for businesses were supposed to do, we're the worst in the entire country right now on job creation. I feel an odd sort of affection for my state and I want to see it do well. My career is in no danger from the local economy here, but I care about the people here and I worry. Especially with all the protests, the petitions to recall the governor, and the anger from people opposing the petitions.

In a lot of ways, I'm a bit of a Pollyanna. I just want everybody to be happy, healthy and getting along.