December 31 2008

The last day of a miserable and rotten year.

I do not feel like commenting on the "why" of that statement, which holds true in way too many fields, personal, familial, social and societal. There were some glimmers, even flashes, of light, happiness and satisfaction, but they were few, superficial and far between.

The unexpected death of Sterreke was the one soul shattering catastrophy which hit our family in 2008. But even excluding that dramatic event, it was a lousy year.

I do not expect 2009 to be that much better. The outlook for peace, for social justice, for restored economic and financial wellbeing is grim indeed. And if I can truefully write the outlook is grim for us in the still scandalously wealthy West, what must I write about the billions of people, our brothers and sisters, in the third and fourth worlds ?

My only wish for 2009 is that there might be significant initiatives to help us built a more equitable world. We were the lucky ones being born over here - let us share with all the people who were born "on the wrong side of the track".

One specific point : experiencing the death of a newborn baby once in a liftetime is "once too much" as we say over here. But let us not forget that to many parents in the third and fourth worlds, loosing a baby or a child is an almost daily occurence, for lack of available infrastructure, care, medicine or food. That scandal has to stop.