This is the last Saturday of 2022. Thank goodness. We now have a future to look forward to, with a different digit to remember on our daily timekeeping for 365 days, new things in life starting as others end, and the burden of reflection on our past and attempts to be and do better.
This last week, to close out the year, we lost Pele the famous soccer player, Pope Emeritus Benedict, and Barbara Walters. We lost good people in 2022. We can look upon their passing with sadness. When your good people pass on, it makes one think about the nasty ones remaining, and we can wish to make certain there are fewer of them. One is a heckler who may have had a sip of alcohol too many before sitting down for a performance of “Death of a Salesman” on Broadway; the actor Wendell Pierce, portraying the lead character Willie Loman, remained onstage when the staff stopped the production and brought up the house lights to deal with the situation, and he is being lauded for handling it with cool professionalism (he promised to give the lady a refund himself). Perhaps theaters should take on the responsibility of intoxication screening, if patrons won’t take it upon their own. I don’t want to go to a performance and have to deal with such distractions, and I have a few coming next year.
It seems our biggest problem. coming out of 2022, remains ourselves.
We cannot expect a future to be better if we continue to treat life as if we are owed something special. We never know what life will be like when we awaken in the morning; we may find our roof blew off overnight, or martial law has been declared. It may rain, snow or worse. I watched a recent rain event, heard the thunder and thought to myself, “Gee, that’s the first time I’ve heard thunder in ages.” News about climate change seems to fall on deaf ears. I cannot fathom how plastics could be invented without having a method for destroying or repurposing them.
This says something about our future weather and the state of our planet; when we go too long without the weather we expect, we get more than we expect. Just ask Buffalo. They may dig out of their recent blizzard soon, but what about the future disasters waiting to happen? Before we dismissively threw our waste into landfills and oceans, we had normal weather. What’s to come?
Some people are still in denial about the changing way we move into cold weather and the upper respiratory issues that come with that change. I have gone into malls and stores fully protected inside and out, and I only see a handful of others doing the same. Sometimes accepting some inconveniences for the greater good is also good for you. What you don’t pass on to somebody, doesn’t rebound onto you, either. Just don’t breathe on, and you won’t be breathed upon.
The US won’t have major elections to worry about in 2023. The political fallout from post-2016 continues for us Americans (we still have the same president), but King Charles III will be crowned in May, making his rule over Britain and its other territories official. They will also have Queen Camilla, but it’s not quite the same thing as when they had Queen Elizabeth. There is still a conflict going on in Ukraine, and a few other countries are making changes. We need to watch those.
The future is certain to hold some tragedy, some happiness, and some sobering events which will affect everybody. The best we can do is be obedient, honorable and mindful, and try to keep those who choose not to in line. It’s always been that way. That will never change.
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