A New Year Awaits – IOTW Report

A New Year Awaits

CTH: 2022 has been another tumultuous year for most of us.  I will have other thoughts on the year upon reflection. However, as the eve winds down, and as we are given to considering everything that has taken place, a revisit to the spiritual core of our association is appropriate.

For me, this year provided many memorable gifts; almost all driven by a purposeful God reminding me of my selfish insignificance.  This year I watched the physical landscape where my youth unfolded, forever changed; much of it erased completely.

The trees which once held the swings and forts for youthful triumphs, felled by nature’s fury and soon thereafter turned to mulch.  Their trunks and branches likely to landscape a coming McMansion for a person with no similar attachment.  And so it goes…. And so, it goes.  An apropos metaphor for life, and a not subtle reminder that we are temporarily living it.

If my younger self had known a clock was counting down, perhaps the kid would have paused under the shade of the old banyans and thanked them. Then again, it really wouldn’t be childhood if we carried such weighty concerns.  I am forever thankful I never carried that weight, and simultaneously today I cherish each breeze with a newfound appreciation for what I did not know. more

20 Comments on A New Year Awaits

  1. My daughter gave me a 2023 Dad joke calendar with a new dad joke for every day of the new year 2023. Starting off with, What’s the difference between a dad joke and a bad joke? The first letter. So now I can start every day with a new corny dad joke, it’s a great way to start the new year. At least I’ll be able to start the day with a laugh to ward off all the things that can happen on any given day in 2023. HAPPY NEW YEARS, everyone at IOTW, this will be year number 70 for me. WOO HOO!

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  2. @Wild Bill December 31, 2022 at 10:41 pm

    > Next year is gonna make 2022 look like the good old days.

    Even a literally literal tsunami, must draw the ocean out, then push it back in, then roll over the shore, before it “does” anything (of note).

    The worst that 2023 threatens is the people waiting for Armageddon to save them, might begin squealing “I told you so!”. They, still, won’t do anything. Just as now. Just as before. They “live” to lick the same pedestal as their “oppressors”. But they love to whine about it.

    We’ve all got a few more years (after the tsunami, actually, rolls through), to even try to remember where we left our underpants. It’s the heroes’ way.

  3. @fnuck, son of fnord December 31, 2022 at 11:29 pm

    @@Wild Bill December 31, 2022 at 10:41 pm

    Oh. Unless you’re one of those parasites that lives off humanity. In which case, yes, your 2023 will depend on how big a parasite you, already, are.

    Then… God speed! You glorious cancer! God speed!

  4. CSRS retirees just got an 8.7% COLA – which, if past is prelude, implies that the official (as opposed to the actual inflation rate which is probably 2.5 to 3x the “official” rate) inflation rate is gonna be in the high teens this year. Employees and Retirees generally receive about half of what the expected inflation rate will be – so – hold onto your hats! 2023’s gonna be a rough ride.

    mortem tyrannis
    izlamo delenda est …

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