End-of-the-year blogs are perhaps destined to feel somewhat bittersweet. Another twelve months have gone by and have any of us truly accomplished everything we’d set out to do? Probably not…
But hope abounds. Why? Well - we’ve got what seems like a fresh start waiting directly in front of us. All we need to do is re-establish some goals. Take a hard-but-not-piercing look in the mirror. Maybe jot down a few resolutions…
In my memory, I was quite certain last year’s final blog entry had me railing against the idiocies produced by our former Administration, but no, this wasn’t really the case. (And please feel free to scroll down to last year’s December 31st blog to read the entire post for yourselves!) I’d forgotten that michaelaba.com had been going through a bit of a crisis of its own. For some reason, right as soon as the previous guy got voted out of office in an election that OBVIOUSLY WASN’T STOLEN, my website was no longer on-line. I had no idea twelve months ago this would only be eventually rectified by having my brothers help me reimagine and reestablish the entire site ourselves. So composing a new blog for no current audience was mentioned, as were the answers to the mainly mundane questions posed to myself the previous year. But by and large, politics was left out. Until, well, the second-to-last paragraph…
Now my only question I’m hoping to answer this time next year is whether or not the world was able to make a return to semi-normalcy after the once-in-a-century madness of 2020. As I type these words (for myself, most likely) there are some extremely positive signs. There are several vaccines on the horizon. The United States has a new President taking office less than a month from now. (Thank you, thank you - THANK YOU!!!) And long overdue reunions, celebrations and adventures appear imminent. Though we are currently in the deepest depths of the wrath Covid-19 has so far inflicted, there are valid reasons to feel hopefully optimistic.
Oh, how I was so blissfully unaware that in only six more days this country would be rocked by an event of such staggeringly malicious proportions! And that such a large swath of our population would willingly resist the use of our newly-discovered vaccines, making the likely occurrence of Covid-19 mutations even more inevitable and wide-spread.
Nevertheless - did 2021 mark a return to “semi-normalcy”? Well, I’d argue, to a degree it did. We’re not listening to moronic and endlessly-phrased lies on a daily basis from the Head of State anymore. I’m not embarrassed to listen to a press conference or two. The carnival-like atmosphere we’d been subjected to since the 2016 election has blessedly been turned around.
Small victories count! And we should never forget to gratefully reflect on them whenever we can.
So what do I hope for in the coming year?
Well, I hope many of you continue to purchase my books and listen to the songs! And, of course, I continue to thank you for your support. (And there will hopefully be more songs available in a few weeks!)
I hope (and expect!) the January 6th Committee in Congress to continue their already impressive work in getting to the bottom of last year’s near-catastrophe. The people at the top who spent all of last December planning for this ultimately-unsuccessful coup should face the consequences for their treasonous actions. And this includes the former guy. Justice takes time but usually prevails. Let’s see.
We desperately need those two Voting Rights bills to pass. The “Build Back Better” plan should find a way to Joe Biden’s desk for approval. And, oh yeah - there will be mid-term elections this year as well. I’m sure you can all guess which outcome - blue wave or red - I would prefer.
Like everyone else, I’m wishing for health and safety to be goals more easily attained than they’ve been these past two years. Almost hard to imagine in this moment how that will ever happen. But imagining positive results is often the crucial first step.
And I mentioned this last month, but did you guys see that new Beatles documentary? Life can sometime surprise you in unexpectedly amazing ways! I spent a good amount of this past Christmas Holiday watching all three episodes for the second time!
Small victories…
2022… Only a day and a half away…
Let’s all try to stay cautiously optimistic. Great things may still happen!
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