2011 REMEMBERED

I almost didn’t post this last blog of the year. After reading it to my wife, I saw that it is not an uplifting piece and it’s kind of dark … but I decided to post it anyway … mostly because I write this blog to share what I think, and to get feed back from you…..so here it is and “there you have it”.

The year 2011 has come and gone; a year I’ve been saying would be one that we would like to forget but most likely never will. At the start of the year we saw the beginnings of what was later called the Arab spring that lead to regime change in Egypt and then in Libya. Now the Mid-East has become even more unstable than it allegedly was. Hosni Mubarak abdicated his office in Egypt, and Maummar Gaddafi was captured and murdered in Libya. No one knows exactly which direction either of those two countries are headed in. Will they become representative democracies similar to the United States? Or will they become something entirely different and fall into the hands of radical Islamic leaders as Iran did in the late 1970’s? … I believe the latter will be the case. I said in my blog posting of January 30th, “Tensions are high in the Middle East and no one is safe. Muslims are angry at their governments, but they are angry at the United States as well. The extremists point to our nation and to Israel as the root of all evil … never mind that Muslims are being and have been oppressed primarily by other Muslims. Be it Saddam Hussein in Iraq, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Iran, or Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, you name the Middle Eastern dictatorship and you will find a Muslim in charge … not a Jew or an American”.

This year has been a violent one. The Muslim uprisings were anything but peaceful. Arabs have been killed in demonstrations, reporters have been attacked and CBS News correspondent Lara Logan was gang raped by an Egyptian mob … her attackers chanting “Jew-Jew”. Mexico is a mess and so is Pakistan. There have been attacks in both countries … in Mexico it’s drug-related, in Pakistan it’s Islamic radicalization. As Americans, we should be worried about what happens in those countries because Mexican violence bleeds into the US and because what happens in Pakistan can lead to a nuclear armed menace.

On the war front, Osama bin-Laden was killed and so was the American Anwar al-Awlaki. Osama bin-Laden eluded death for much too long and Anwat al-Awlaki stopped being an American as soon as he joined with al-Qaeda and began plotting to kill Americans in the name of Islam. Americans are safer with both of them dead … but that does not mean that we are safe from Radical Islam, and Muslim terrorism. As we have already seen, there have been terror bombings in Iraq only days after our troops have left. The war against Muslim terrorism continues on. While I’m happy to see our troops come home, I fear that leaving Iraq prematurely (as we did in the 1990’s) will only cause a greater war to erupt there. We may very well find our military fighting against Iraq and Iran as they join together to hold the world’s oil reserves hostage.

Here at home we’ve seen occupy movements become violent. We saw mobs destroy the Wisconsin capital building, and more recently we’ve seen the OWS mobs become violent and unsafe in cities across the country … so much so that the mobs are no longer welcome even on liberal college campuses in California.

The year has been unusual, to say the least. We began with a huge natural disaster in Japan. Then there were the wild fires in Arizona and Texas. The flooding in Tennessee and elsewhere, and don’t forget about the earthquakes that took place in Alaska, Oklahoma, Texas, and Virginia. This year was the first I can remember in which both an earthquake and a hurricane hit the east coast within the same week … EVER. I believe there were some news sources that said that’s never happened before.

As the year progressed we’ve seen new developments take place in presidential politics. We’ve seen candidates show interest in becoming the next US president come and go. Donald Trump was one, some former governor of Minnesota was another (I never bothered to learn his name), my favorite (Sarah Palin) never got in, and then there was Herman Cain. Herman Cain dropped out of the race once he found out that he could not stop false accusations from being charged against him again and again … now he knows what Sarah Palin’s life has been like.

This year hasn’t been a good one for kids or young people. Every week we heard about children being abducted, raped, abused, and killed. Kids have been used for political reasons by special interest groups of all kinds. They have also been targeted by the media and retailers for economic gain. Young people have been attacking and looting businesses and individuals in flash mobs, gang mobs, and in OWS mobs. You heard about all of that … you just failed pay attention to it.

I’m a Dallas Cowboys fan, and this year (just as it has been for so many years now), seems to be another disappointing season for them and for me. They always have a bunch of talented players but they just don’t win games. But the most disappointing thing to happen in the NFL to my mind are the attacks that the Denver Broncos’ quarterback Tim Tebow has endured. Why has he been attacked? … because of his Christian faith. That’s right, because of his faith. Not that long ago no one would have felt it acceptable to attack anyone for being an unapologetic Christian. That saddens me and it causes me to lose hope in my country.

In San Francisco they have Naked Santa’s. Why? … who knows why. While Santa Claus is a secular symbol of Christmas, never the less he’s a saint. Naked Santa’s are an affront to his symbolism of goodness, charity, faithfulness, giving, and modesty. Actions like these also cause me to lose hope in my country, too.

In fairness I haven’t lost hope in my country alone … I’ve lost faith in the western world. Europe is collapsing before our very eyes, Mexico’s falling apart under our noses, and immorality, debauchery, and evil are on the rise everywhere. If you don’t think so, you’d better look again. Like I said, 2011 is a year we would like to forget but most likely never will. Will 2012 be any better? … I pray that it will.

There you have it.
Pass it on if you like or let me know if I don’t have a clue.

Eddie