There’s always hope in the new year. We can get some of our best inspiration by looking at what just happened. So here’s a quick recap of what happened in 2005, with an eye towards what good came of it and what similar progress can be made in 2006.
Tsunami’s hit and killed millions in South Asia. While this isn’t a good thing, the charity of the world, and especially the U.S. was. We are setting up a system for warning, that should reduce the scale of this kind of catastrophe in the future. The world got a little better through compassion and learning a harsh lesson from mother nature.
Sadly, an earthquake killed 87,000 in Kashmir region; and while there was compassion and aid there too, the isolation and remoteness was reflected by the lesser degree of help. Still, humans helping humans on any scale is a good thing; even if we wish it was a little more.
Iraq had 3 separate elections (starting in January). They ratified a Constitution quicker than the U.S. did, violence is trending down and very localized, Saddam is being tried by his own people, the nation is founding a government and so far, it is a democracy. Meanwhile, the Iraqi economy has grown by 30%+ since Saddam, as has their GDP, their unemployment has fallen, and they have the freest speech and most diverse media in the middle-east. Troops are coming home, infrastructure is improving. Iraq is quickly becoming a beacon, giving hope for freedom or at least improvements among other Arabs/Muslims. While certainly the few extremists are attracted to the violence in Iraq, more and more Arabs/Muslims in area and elsewhere are rejecting the violence and terrorism. The world is a slightly better place than it was last year, with more hope towards the future.
The world got a new pope. I’m not sure if that is progress or not, just the inevitability of change and death. Michael Jackson and Robert Blake got off. Many criminals were convicted or caught. Dan Rather got fired. The Internet, bloggers and increased information continues to hold more people accountable to the truth. Terri Schiavo died, but encourage the nation to discuss an issue often ignored, and had many people taking more seriously the issue of living wills. Rosa Parks died too, but was remembered as the great individualist that she was. Condoleezza Rice became the highest ranking black woman in the U.S. government, ever. Replacing Colin Powel. How far we’ve come in a generation or two; with still more progress to be made.
Despite a lot of hullabaloo about Supreme Court nominations, the gang of 14 got us past politically motivated obstructionists, and our government marches on. Cindy Sheehan’s 15 minutes of whining appears to be yesterdays news. And the bad metaphor of the housing bubble never “popped”. Instead more people own homes and better homes than ever before, and our national wealth is at its highest ever (rich and poor alike). Unemployment is down, jobs are up, the economy is doing better.
In Science, a partial face transplant may offer to hope to many. The ivory billed woodpecker was taped alive (despite people thinking it was extinct in 1944) in the Arkansas swamps. The Bird Flu still hasn’t become a pandemic, since 1901 when it was first discovered, or 1955 since this strain was observed, nor in the 8 years since it first spread to humans; and we’re hard at work looking for cures/inoculations/treatments. While the SARS scare is a fading memory. And the money grubbing trial lawyers trying to cripple our Pharmaceuticals industry lost a major case against Merck over Vioxx; hopefully that’s a new trend.
Israel withdrew from Gaza, there’s more hope than ever of a peace, or less violent conflict between the Israeli palestinians and the Israeli’s. The Palestinians are looking to finally be tiring of the conflict. And the wall, while being a racist symbol of segregation also seems to be setting the stage for reducing the conflict. The violence is less than last year, and there’s a lot more hope. Syria was shown for the meddling terrorist sponsors that they are, and Lebanon finally got them out, and got more hope too.
Katrina was the inevitable happening. Hopefully it taught millions in America and around the world not to count on Federal Governments, because they’ll fall short. Also it teaches people not to count on corrupt State and Local Government too much, because they fell even shorter. Despite the catastrophe and damage, the good news is that in the wake of this event, we are working on improving things to try to reduce or avoid problems in the future. And Rita evacuations reminded people what can happen when people take responsibility for themselves, and what happens when local government works effectively. Already we are healing and improving, and Americans gave from their hearts, and that makes the world (or at least our piece of it) a slightly better place.
France and Germany’s pro-Saddam and anti-Freedom leaders/parties both took it in the shorts. Schroder already fell, and Chirac’s fall is inevitable. I can’t guarantee what replaces them will be better, but at least there’s hope. France got a wake up call that their racist policies and appeasement’s may not be working; after weeks of rioting. While the Freedom supporting Blair government was reelected, yet the country made a move towards more moderate (conservative) political values. Their reminder about the war against terror was punctuated with subway bombs, but that just re-affirmed the support against terrorism by the stoic brits, and there was quick and efficient justice. Even the U.N. is being probed and probing itself over all the internal corruption and stunning inefficiencies; hopefully leading to improvements there as well. The world political stage is looking decades better in just a dozen months.
So all and all, that seems like a lot of small victories in the face of challenges, if you ask me. I was belaboring all the failures and negative news, because that isn’t the point. Certainly, not all is perfect and well in the world, or even just our part of it; so there’s lots of room for further improvements. But I definitely think there are lots of signs for progress in 2005, and hope for 2006.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.