So here we are, at the dawn of a new year. What will 2009 be like? We can speculate, we can dream, we can hope, we can expect. But when it comes down to it, all we can really do is live through it and find out. There were many things that happened over the course of the year 2008 that we never would have thought possible on January 1st...both good and bad. So, I want to take the time to recapture the events of 2008. So much has happened that I'm sure I will miss something, possibly even something major...
The national financial crisis escalates and infects the entire world, causing global financial struggle, panic and fear...
China hosted the Summer Olympics...
The US government took control of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac...
Fidel Castro resigned as President (Dictator) of Cuba...
AIG was bailed out by the government and squandered half a million dollars of the money on lavish vacations for its employees...
A transgendered man gave birth...
Russia and Georgia went to war, and somehow no one knows who started it...
Sarah Palin...yeah, that's all I need to say about her...
Proposition 8 passed in the state of California...
The national unemployment rate soared...
The Dow Jones Industrial Average struggled to stay above 8,000 when in late 2007 it was at 14,000...
We endured the beginning of the greatest economic recession since the Great Depression...
New Kids on the Block started touring again...I'm probably the only one who cares...
Approximately 20 large investment banks went under, filed for bankruptcy or were bought out including Merrill Lynch, Bear Stearns, and Lehman Brothers...
The housing market crashed and burned...
We watched gas prices soar to unprecedented levels, then drop to prices we haven't seen in almost a decade...
People and companies finally started to take global warming seriously...
$700 Billion bailout...
Economic stimulus package that didn't really stimulate the economy much...
Pirates...we still have pirates? Yeah, I guess we do...Saudi oil tankers were hijacked by Somalian Pirates...
The Big Three automakers are paying the price for not changing with the times, they are facing bankruptcy and possibly extinction without a government bailout...
Terrorism escalated globally...
An Iraqi reporter threw not one, but two shoes at President Bush...
OJ Simpson was convicted of robbery and kidnapping and sentenced to 9-33 years in prison...
A Wal-Mart employee was trampled to death on Black Friday...
We lost iconic figures such as Tim Russert, Bernie Mac, Paul Newman, Charleton Heston and Isaac Hayes...
We continued the war in Iraq...
Bernard Madoff made off with $50 Billion of other peoples' money, the largest act of thievery in the history of time...
We watched our nation come together to make history as we elected the first black man into the Presidency of the United States, and he won the election with an historic electoral vote count...
Again, there is so much more, and just because I left it out doesn't mean it wasn't important. 2008 brought with it much devastation and many people will remember it as a trying year, but hundreds of years from now when students are sitting in their US History classes learning about the year 2008, "financial crisis" will come up, but the main subject will be Barack Obama and how the men and women of this nation joined together to take a giant step forward at a time when we needed it most.
So here's to 2009. I welcome you with arms wide open. No one knows what the new year will bring, but I will speculate, dream, hope and expect that it will be a year of prosperity, growth, love and change. I expect that over the course of 2009, great things will take place that I never thought possible on January 1st.
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This has been a pretty devastating year for our country and pretty much the whole world. It's interesting to note though, that 2 of the best things that happened this year involve 2 black men. One who we hope will be able to turn this country around and give us a hope for the future that so many long ago buried. The other will finally do the prison time he should have already been doing for years.
I am looking forward to a new year with new possibilities. If we look for good and positive things we most definitely will find some!
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