Happy New Year!!

(Or Happy Maids a' Milking, if you're still counting off the 12 days of Christmas. :) )

So we have now officially started 2002, back to a "normal" year, after all the hoopla going into 2000 and 2001 about the new millenium. (Never mind the assorted non-Gregorian calendars, such as in China, that pooh-poohed the millenium issue completely.) And after the excitement of 2001, a return to normalcy would be greatly welcomed: I think about the year just past that I have seen in DC, and am amazed at all that has occurred. Starting in January with the innauguration of a president following a intensely controversial election, through the stories of summertime (remember Chandra Levy and everyone's trying to guess if Jordan would come out of retirement?), then the horrible tragedies of September 11th and the subsequent anthrax attacks, and concluding with a war in a far-off country, where we once so intensely opposed conflict that we boycotted an Olypmics to show it.

And yet, to return to normal, to pretend as if so much of what has happened did not, to, if I may borrow a phrase, forget the lessons of history will doom us to repeat them. And it will dishonor the memories of those who paid the price to teach us those lessons.

I have had a friend visiting me the last few days, and have been doing a lot of tourist things with them. Yesterday, we wandered around Arlington Cemetary, the memorials to Lincoln and the Vietnam and Korean wars, and the Holocaust Museum, and then our sight-seeing today included the Capitol, Supreme Court, and the White House. And I have pondered much the events and ideals commemorated by these places, and in particular yesterday as I thought about the start of a New Year, a phrase at the Robert Kennedy memorial in Arlington particularly struck me: "It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal or acts to improve the lot of others or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance."

Although the New Year, as it always does, brings with it hope and possibilities for the future to come, it is not seperate and discrete from the old one just ended. The trial of humanity that we began in the fall of 2001 is ongoing, and only through a proactive effort will a favorable judgment be returned. Someone I know in Missouri told me the tale of 'Osama's Coffee Shop', a small cafe owned by an American citizen who shares the unfortunate name of a man many wish to make the 21st century equivalent of Adolph. In the immediate aftermath of the 11th, this coffee shop was the victim of ignorance and a blind quest for vengence.

It is easy to do nothing. It is easy to speak words; all too popular is the New Year's tradition of making resolutions, which are often quickly broken. But sometimes more is needed. So instead, let us each try to make a statement during 2002 (and hopefully beyond). Where there is suffering, let us offer charity, where there is destruction, let us rebuild, and where there is wrong, let us seek justice. Let us each by our small acts, our demonstrations of hope, let us show a sign to those who would perpetrate harm that a free spirit is indomitable, and it is in hardship and adversity that the best of humanity becomes united and shines forth.

About a week ago, I watched 'Miracle on 34th St', which contained the line "Faith is about believing in something when common sense tells you not to." Common sense says one individual cannot change the world. Faith in the veracity of what RFK said says that one individual can. As we enter 2002, let us have faith in the positive acts of hope we create for others, and may 365 days from now, we be able to say in truth that this was indeed a Happy New Year.

Best Wishes ahead for 2002.