2007 A Year of Review

I’ve been trying for a few weeks now to write something insightful about 2007, and I had a hard time getting past the first question.  There seems to be an obstacle right off the bat to any New Years article. Does the article look back and reflect on what happened, what was learned, what was lost, what was gained, etc., OR does an article look forward? It’s almost a half full half empty thing, but on a far bigger level given the seriousness of the real events in all our lives.  

I thought about New Years resolutions, and I wondered if they’re really goals for the future, hopes, dreams, things of optimism, or if they’re reflections on our failures and losses of the past year.  When we look at a New Year, we can look back, and we can look forward, but what’s most important-I think is what we’ve learned. After all, the past is history, and the only point in remembering history is to learn from the experiences of the past so they might be applied to better decision making, better experiences in the future, and better preparations.  
 
What I’ve learned this year in particular isn’t anything new. It’s a reaffirmation of knowledge that was put on the back burner to simmer, but somehow the burner was turned off, and the knowledge went cold. What I’ve learned is that life is about people, and a person is the sum of their actions. It’s those actions that make us unique in society; in the group of people that is mankind.  

Any look at 2007 or 2008 really stretches back into 2006 for me.  Late in that year, my wife’s multiple sclerosis was acting up.  She had an MRI taken, and the news was not good.  The doctor told us in no uncertain terms that he’d usually seen people in far worse condition with MRIs that showed far less activity.  We changed to a new medication-one that had been taken off the shelves because 2 people died from taking it.  Within a month, her episode went away, and 2007 began as a day to day test in hope and courage that her recovery would continue.  In early February, she had another MRI taken, and the doctor again came into the room shaking and scratching his head.  He’d never seen anything like it.  Her body had not only stopped attacking itself, but was actually healing the damaged areas of her brain.  The year continued, and in the 15 years she’s had MS, this has been the least troublesome year for her.  The new medication is a success.  How does one look towards 2007 and 2008 in that light?    We look with hope, and her doctor looks with an ear-to-ear grin; the happiest we’ve ever seen him
 
This year, I read Eddie Jeffers’ articles, and I was moved to no end (“Hope Rides Alone” and “Freedom Feels Good”). I remain at a loss in the wake of Eddie’s passing, but his thoughts are alive, and his deeds and words are with me every day now. They have without a doubt changed me and rekindled part of me.  
 
We had a tornado (just a little F-zero) hit our town, and our cul de sac flooded.  Our street was a small lake.  I saw neighbors come out to check on each other before the thunder had even faded. People helping people in the wake of a storm…what did I learn?   
 
Just a few weeks ago I worked at a landfill as an on-site office manager for an environmental company. It was only for a few days, but I saw things I’d never imagined.  Nonchalant courage commitment and integrity was a common denominator wherever I looked. The landfill has a reaction/fire roaming around at the bottom. I saw environmental technicians (techs) walk on top the huge hill knowing fully what was beneath their feet. The dangers there are real-very real, and despite often having college degrees, years of technical experience, and immense dedication, they’re too often ignored by society at large.  These guys aren’t daredevils, or fools. They know they’re very intelligent, know the risks, and they do the job. For their families, for their communities, and-when they went up on the hill-for each other. What did I learn?
 
The other night, we had a bad snowstorm.  My 3yr old son, Kenny’s pinkeye came back bad, and he couldn’t open his eyes.  The doctor’s office was closed.  The pharmacy was closing.  The prescription we had for his first bout with it was out, and like any dad with a sick kid, I zipped off into the snow to get some meds-any med-to help him. 

We’d spent the last of our money and gone into the red till next week by buying a new set of good all season tires for our Chevy.  It was worth it.  Despite the heavy snow I grabbed all the loose change in the house, hopped in the car, made it to the store, and I found some over the counter medicine to treat the symptoms at least (itchy eyes, redness, etc).   

When I was coming back, I saw the strangest thing.  It was dusk, and the snow was passing.  The frontal boundary was clear in the Ohio sky with large puffy clouds heading north-northeast, the fat flakes of snow thinning out, and as I entered out neighborhood, lined directly up with the main street, the full moon rose through a low V shape in the clouds.  In that moment, I knew someone was looking out for me.  That’s what I felt.   

Somehow I had the foresight to go from indecision to decision when it came to buying the new tires.  Someone (or at least someone’s legacy) had taught me to get up and go at a moment’s notice into the bad weather on the mere hope of finding meds for a sick little boy.  Somehow the sky cleared, and I got home safe.  The clouds passed quickly, and the moon seemed to rise fast-literally lighting the street for my final leg home.  I pulled in, popped out, went inside, and Kenny’s eyes were opening (a blind 3yr old on Christmas would have been awful).

Did I need the drops?  Nope.  Warm wash cloth and some patience did the trick.  Then why the trip?  I figure it was not a test, but my dad, my grandfathers, my great aunt, my grandmother, God, and so many others looking down seeing the little guy, and steering me to the car on my winter adventure just in case.  He’s fine today, and Santa was good to him, but I can’t forget that strange sight in the sky.  I mean, the snow literally just stopped, the clouds parted, and the sky went winter-clear.   

I stayed up till almost 2am thinking about it-that’s how much the view and the moment caught my attention.  When I finally went to bed, I looked out the window as usual, looked up, saw the moon, and a bright meteor/shooting star zipped across the sky (first I’ve ever seen here).    Why?  What’s it all mean?  Is it simply weather and flukes of vantage points coinciding with a fluke scientific trajectory of a burning piece of space junk or a meteor cloud?   

I don’t think so.  I don’t believe in patterns of coincidences.  I believe it was all one big thought provoking process to remind me that God’s out there-in no uncertain terms, we have friends and family high in the sky and all around us.  The memories and effects of their deeds and words inspire us toward resolve-toward making decisions that are responsible.  They guide us towards helping others even if it seems like a futile or moot effort.  It all seems so simple when you get the faith as opposed to the complexity and mind-blowing effort of trying to dismiss or discount patterns of coincidence.

What are the odds of the coincidences and setting elements around Christ’s birth?  They’re literally astronomical.  Combine that with the simple fact that Jesus historically existed, the man challenged the political/religious establishment, and he guided billions of human beings toward helping each other for the next 2000years, and I wonder…what doubt can there be of the man’s greatness, of the man’s personal relationship with God the father, or that he was filled with the Holy Spirit?  There can be none.     

Similarly, there can be no doubt that since his legacy has lived on so strongly for 2000 years via words, and the deeds inspired by those words by billions.  There is an afterlife.  It exists.  I’ve seen it.  I’ve seen my father.  I’ve heard his voice as thoughts in my head stemming from the memory of what he would say.  He lives, and I live in his memory with his thoughts shaping my life.  He lives in my life, and I’m paving the same ground for my children.

And it makes me so happy.

Like I said, life is about people-past, present, and future, and a person is the sum of their actions (both in deeds and in words). It’s those actions that make us unique in society; in the group of people that is mankind. Looking backwards on the year, this is what I’ve re-learned, and as I look forward to 2008 and beyond, it’s what I want to do better. I want to take actions that benefit others, and thereby better myself by helping others.  
 
Such a simple lesson, but-as I’ve often been told, it’s always easier to know what the right thing to do is than it is to do it. Rarely am I at a loss for what the right thing to do is. Next year, I want to make sure I do it more often, and I hope that more people will do so as well.   That is my hope-my resolution, and I’ve also re-learned that I will not face tomorrow’s challenges alone.  The deeds and words of people in my past (whether it’s loved ones who have passed away, or strangers who have changed the world) guide me home like a full moon breaking through a snowstorm, or a blazing piece of space junk towards the right frame of mind.