New Year, Old Thoughts

Holly bright and cheerful with or without snow, a good way to start the next solar cycle

• Back to the blog!   After nearly ten years of daily writing, sometimes weekly writing, always thinking when I walked or woke, I was less afflicted by writer’s block than by writer’s fatigue.  With babysitting for a grandchild and general activities thrown in, trying to maintain a necessary thinking schedule had just become overwhelming.  So last year was mostly a glorious reprieve, when I could walk the woods or the shore or the sidewalks of town with nary a heavy thought clouding my fragile brain.  But, I admit, the days have become a trifle dull and boring, so here I am at it again.
• Media carries so much angry chatter that simply commenting on wind and rain and flowers and patterns of folks seems absurdly quaint.  I am sure I cannot avoid an occasional reference to what passes for mass “current events.”  But most of the day I am not so concerned with the invective of the talking heads, nor the ponderous claims of the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and other reliable news providers.  So I will try to keep my thoughts within a mile or so of where I am, colored by what I actually experience hour by hour. 
• Call me Dr. Pangloss.  I read a great deal of history, and I remain convinced that this particular period of civilization, for most of us _ and especially for my middle-class American milieu _ is the best it has ever been.  There is lots of food, massive entertainment, adequate medicine, electricity and all kinds of gadgets to salve the deteriorations of old age.  Sure, I know it is fragile, I know there are disasters lurking everywhere _ but when you study history assiduously you realize that for any given individual, it has always been thus, and often far worse.  Day by day, this civilization is not so bad.
• I also realize I am checking out sometime soon, so will probably not be witness to many of the colossal disruptions to come from climate change, artificial intelligence, and the general propensity of the human race to create and usually escape from horrible disasters.  In my personal life, I try to live each day as if it is my last, going to sleep with a clear conscience and leaving very little undone.  Long ago I realized my impact on culture and planet was illusory and insignificant, and I maintain that stance.
• Finally, as a senior, low tech is my preference.  Computer blogging is as modern as I wish to be.  Writing, reading, avoiding viral posts and instant gratification obsessions with self are meaningful goals.  To compose carefully, write lucidly, and edit cleanly will remain my sole true satisfactions in this new bloggish endeavor.