Happy 2002

As is par for the course for me, I’m running about a week or two late on this, but I don’t care. I’ve got a lot to say about this next year. This Christmas was different. I think everybody in the world felt it. In the wake of our national disaster we all felt a little closer to our friends and families. We all realized just how precious they really are and I could kind of feel that this holiday season. Oh, sure there was the normal crass commercialism (Now! That’s What I Call Christmas!!) and feelings of “Christmas sucks!” (I have two friends who still hold this opinion. Lighten up!)

A lot of us tightened our belts (I actually had to loosen mine a bit…5 extra pounds! Crap!), but we still managed to have a pretty happy season and the stores were still fairly happy.

I actually did something that I didn’t think I would get a chance to do for a long time: I went to Wisconsin to see family up there that I have never met. That’s always an interesting experience, especially when you’ve never seen a white Christmas and you’re going some place where if it doesn’t snow in early December you start thinking that hell has frozen over.

So my trip began with a quick hop up to Chicago in an airplane. American Airlines, no less. I was a little less than impressed with the security down here in Austin, but it was ok.

Then when I got on the plane something kind of shameful came over me. Ok, something very shameful. I saw an Arab guy with a turban and started to get a little worried. Yes, racial profiling happens to the best of us.

But then I started to think about it. This guy is taking a HUGE risk in getting on an airplane in America (or pretty much anywhere, for that matter) with a turban on his head. First off, how stupid would it be for an actual terrorist to do that? Second, I started worrying for this guy. If he so much as got up to go to the bathroom he would have all 100+ people’s eyes on him. One false move and there could be at least two people on top of him. That’s gotta be a pretty daunting thought to be going through anybodys mind, and you know it was crossing his. This poor guy would have to sit in his seat for fear of being thrown down on the floor of the cabin. That’s pretty awful. So that’s what I was worried about more than anything during the entire ride. I never noticed if he got up or not. I doubt that he did.

Up in Wisconsin it was cold as hell, but it was worth it. I met great-aunts, cousins, a foreign exchange student from Hungary and my 85-year-old great-grandmother who is still just as sarcastic as ever. Gotta love that. And no one ever argues with her. That’s the way I want to be when I hit that age. Still quick and witty as hell. Some people have called her cantankerous or ornery. That would involve meanness, though. Never once was she mean. She was just gently prodding. And very funny.

So I had a nice, quiet Christmas up there and then came back down here for Christmas with everyone else and that was pretty much that. Christmas with the family, and we’ve never seemed so close.

(I was even less impressed with the security at O’Hare. They didn’t even check my huge carry-on because they were too busy arguing with a guy over whether or not his cell phone was stolen from the x-ray machine. Asshole.)

Meanwhile, our boys are still over in Afghanistan fighting what people are calling a fight for freedom. The government is saying that the terrorists are only waiting for the right time to strike again while we’ve got them on the run.

So what does that leave us to do? Well, I’m not sure. As a normal citizen all I can think to do is hope. There’s a new year upon us. Let’s use that year to help bring peace to this world. In the past America has used it’s big bank account to send weapons to hopeful “friendlies” in order to keep the bad guys at bay. Well, that hasn’t paid off too well. It’s time to send someone like Jimmy Carter to talk to these folks and get them just see the stupidity of what they’re doing. They’re taking lives, innocent or not, and putting them in the hands of a bunch of warmongering assholes who couldn’t give a damn about the little people. Well, guess what guys, the world is full of us little people. We outnumber you by about a million to one. We just lack the money and skills to take over. We also lack the hatred and the evil thoughts.

So, as we go through the next year, let’s remember that, yeah, 2001 was one of the worst years in the history of the world, but 2002 has to be better. Let’s try to make it one of the best and most peaceful years ever, no matter what that bastard across the sea wants to do.

Let peace reign.