I feel that anything I post today should be short. The challenge is whether I can make it sweet. I’m not sure that’s possible. 2024 has been the worst year since 2016 and for many of the same reasons. The difference now is we know what kind of horrors to expect next year and more people are openly supportive of ruining people’s lives in the name of some warped identity crisis.
We are reminded that life has been worse. Today is the 20th anniversary of the Indian Ocean tsunami that killed over 230,000 people. All the wars put together didn’t kill that many people this year. Sure, Mother Nature gave it a helluva shot and I dare say there are parts of the Carolinas that will never recover. Still, if natural disasters were our only worry we’d be in pretty good shape.
We’re all tired of political news, which could be a problem going into 2025. We’re being led by narcissistic billionaires. If a statement or action doesn’t give them enough attention, they go with something bigger, something too large to be ignored. Attempting to ignore them simply causes their behavior to be worse. We cannot live in peace when we are led by people who survive on chaos.
A baby froze to death overnight in Gaza as Israel and Hamas trade accusations of ceasefire delays. This was an infant girl, but… what if it had been named Jesus? We conveniently ignore that “Bethlehem in Judea” is what we now know as the West Bank. We also ignore that there was no Roman tax decree and that if there is any truth to the story at all, it happened in June, not December. What’s worse is that many celebrate the birth of an immigrant 2,000 years ago while simultaneously denying aid to immigrants now. More than 10,000 migrants died this year trying to reach Spain by sea. If you worship the one allegedly born in a manger but turn away the others just like him, your faith is merely a mythological fantasy.
I’m seeing a lot of “The Year in Pictures” posts from the news outlets. I’m not looking. I don’t need to look. There are already too many images from this year imprinted on my brain; images of people screaming hate, pictures of death and destruction, photos of chaos taking over the world. I don’t need to be reminded of the disaster that we created for ourselves.
Perhaps we’ll just stop here for today. I’m not finding anything genuinely sweet, even among the recipes for cookies. For those who have today off from work, please love those around you. And should you encounter those who are working today, by all means, extend kindness and courtesy to them. We all need more kindness in our lives. All of us.