When we hear the shouting -- or maybe the fat lady singing -- we know it's over ... whatever it is that needs to finish. The same is true of the year. This is, thankfully, just about behind us.
This wasn't a good year. Oh sure, we avoided another major economic crash, but the American managed to pass legislation to at least allow their banks to make even riskier deals that the first time they ruined so much. What is more, the next time around, even simple savers will be cleaned out before the taxpayers have to step up and be counted. The rest of the industrialized world just sat by and watched and never made a sound.
This was a terrible year for geopolitical machinations. It took some effort, but we've managed to turn the clock back to the Cold-War days; we can demonize one side or the other, knowing full well it is everybody in the middle, the ones between the millstones that will be ground to dust. No, this was not the year that we learned anything from history.
This was an awful year for human rights and justice. The Americans can't their racism under control, and their smug sense of superiority led them to believe that all they needed to do was make different laws and they could be above those too. Almost 70 years ago at Nuremberg, they were singing a different song, but if you're the bully on the block, I guess you believe you can decide which tune is hummed. ISIS, of course, doesn't care in a whole different way. They're not better nor worse than whatever it is they think they're fighting. The old adage stands: you become what you hate.
This was a catastrophic year for the environment. US-China agreement be damned, the Canadians started shilling for Big Oil, America's trying its hardest to spread its fracking disease abroad, the Saudis are protecting their own interests and Mother Nature is simply getting screwed. We all know that we are not going to do a single thing for the environment until it is too late to do anything reasonable at all.
This was a distressing year for the poor and persecuted. It doesn't matter if you are poor here or poor there. You're not wanted anywhere. Whatever reason you think you may have for wanting a better life or at least the chance at one is mere foolishness on your part. Those that have don't want to share. They've made it indisputably clear, and there are a whole array of fears and prejudices that the manipulators can invoke to get you to do just what they want.
Glimpses of hope? Sure, small though they be: Pope Frank is still kicking butt, cleaning up one crony at a time and reminding the rest of us that if we're not doing whatever we can, we're not doing enough. I'm not even Catholic and I like the guy ... Person of the Year in my book. Several thousands of Americans made it out into the streets, finally -- adequate media coverage or no -- demanding more fairness and more justice. Thousands of Germans made it out into the streets, finally -- misplaced media coverage or no -- demanding that they allow their fears to rule them.
All in all, simply a bad year for all of us normal, everyday people. Our politicians ignore us, our enemies hate us, our friends mistrust us, and we're so afraid of our own shadows that we aren't about to go making waves. In the end, you know, we're going to get what we deserve. 2014 was proof of the saying that the inmates are running the asylum.
Don't forget to make sure you party to oblivion in a couple of days. You're going to need it.
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