It's Time to Party like it's 2009

Dear Shell,

The calendar officially flipped over to 2009 a few days ago. In the moments before the calendar flipped over, many promises were made across the nation. People promising to change, to do better, to be a better person in the new year. Diets were outlined or refined with the promise of 'this year I'll stick with it'. Goals were set, some almost impossible but still set down on paper or in thoughts filled with hope.

It is January 5th now, and I know, without knowing all those people, that most of those goals have already been set aside as impossible "what was i thinking", diets have already been blown "its still the holidays... i can have that", and people haven't really changed much in 5 days.

The past year though, 2008, was a year of many changes. Some good, some bad. A lot of bad actually.

There were many celebrity deaths: some were self-inflicted, some were accidents, some were unexpected, and some were just plain old age. We lost Heath Ledger, George Carlin, Bernie Mac, Beverly Garland, and many others.

The economy kept getting worse and worse. Companies cut down on the number of employees, creating a smaller and smaller workforce. Other companies just completely shut their doors and said "sorry, we don't exist anymore". Unemployment rates continue rising, foreclosures continue rising. The last time I checked, Michigan still had the highest unemployment rate in the nation, over 9%. That's what we get for being a mostly automotive-based state in a time where people don't have jobs to afford the cars that are built here.

2009 brings in a new president as well: President Barack Obama. In the future, when our kids and grandkids are learning history and about their past presidents, one of the things that'll stand out about Obama is that he's our nation's first black president. Honestly, I don't care what color he is, I care about what he can do for our nation. I hope when my kids or grandkids are learning about him, they learn about more than just the color of his skin. I hope that they learn about the good that we all hope he'll do for our nation. I hope that he can help our nation turn around, get back on it's feet, get our people back to work. That's what I'd like to see him known as in the future, the President who cared and helped our nation back on its feet.

Well this post went in a different direction than I had planned, so I will leave it here for now and will post what I had intended to post at a later date.


Shell