New Year’s Day 2020 - A Holiday Reflection

Today is a day of beginnings.

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

A beginning is the time for taking the most delicate care that the balances are correct, the Princess Irulan said, in her biography of Muad’Dib

A small miscalculation at the outset, a subtle deviation from the plan, will cause you to miss your mark by a wide margin. It may cause you to never reach your end, or to end in a place you never intended to be.

Great care must be taken at the beginning.

Be mindful of your aim.

Today it is a day of resolutions.

Doing is being, is what Ray Bradbury said:

To have done is not enough.

You cannot lie about, and lie about the things you might just do someday.

But do, and win the game.

Great things are accomplished (and by great I mean great on any scale; socially, professionally, personally, spiritually, privately), great things are arrived at, built, discovered, in a series of small, regular and consistent steps.

With the steady application of effort, we can learn to do, and we can do just about anything.

Resolve to do something; be resolute.

Know this, if life is a river, it is a confluence of contradictions.

The process is just as important as the goal.

The archer is not only concerned with the object of her aim, but with the drawing of her bow, with the tension in the string and movement of her goal.

We must be prepared.

2020 marks the end of an era in American vision and the American experiment. The assault on truth, and the understanding of what truth is has finally undone its relevance to the social order.

It is doubtful that we can return to it.

Like the beast in the Book of Revelation, we have turned power over to the father of lies.

In 2020 we will put the liar on trial for abusing his power, for conspiring with our adversaries, he will be acquitted by his allies, and they will all lie some more, in the hope of continuing their grip on power.

We may hope for the future of America’s promise, and the extension of the promise to the whole world, but all we may have is hope…

Compassion, accountability, charity, honesty, integrity to call for these things is to speak to the wind, we hear them like voices crying out in the wilderness, lost in the din of madness.

Today is the first day, it is a day for unity and finding common purpose.

We will need to stand together if we are going to put an end to the madness, but our house is divided.

Today is the first day, it is a day for unity and finding common purpose.

We will need to stand together and support one another if we are going to advance the common good, but our house is divided, and those who are seeking to step up as champions, to lead the charge against destroyer are tearing each other down and lying to make themselves heard.

We are undone.