FIRAT PSOT!

I just got off the phone from an unidentified 805 phone number who happened to be a MoveOn.org volunteer thanking me for my support this past year and leting me know about their new campaign to get people to support their work. I told her that I really need to be a lot stricter with my finances right now, and she understood that, but before we agreed that times are tough, but with our upcoming president, things are looking pretty hopeful for the future.

I know very few people who can say that 2008 was a good year for them. When Senator Barack Obama was elected to be the next United States President, one could almost feel the shift in the air, the collected sigh of relief and the lifted spirits of people around the world that things may not too great, but not all is lost, and we all had something for which to hope.


It is good to have hope, but we cannot hot rely on hope alone. Hope can only go so far; it is the expectation and belief things will turn out for the best. Expectation and belief are intangible concepts that can be achieved with luck, but usually a little bit of effort is needed to maximize its effectiveness.

The change that so many people hoped for and got could not have happen if not for the hard work of so many people devoting their time and passion for what they believed in, much like the woman I spoke to on the phone. She, like so many others, has hope for a better future, and she's working to improve the odds of that better future on happening. Of course, all the hope and effort is never a guarantee of reaching our goals, but even in the unfortunate case of defeat, one can walk away knowing that (s)he made her/his best effort.

As we come into this new year with our hopes and dreams, we must be aware that they'll remain just that - hopes and dreams if we don't put in effort in making them a reality. Even with the change in the air and the guaranteed shift we will all feel, we cannot expect to see any change as we stand there holding out our hand as we impatiently tap our feet. The pieces of change will definitely fall into place, but we're going to have to guide them to make sure they really fit.

We won't lose that weight if we don't better watch our diets and don't exercise. We're not going to get out of debt if we keep spending beyond our means. We're not going to get that chair refinished unless we go out and start sanding. I'm not going to take better pictures or write better blog entries if I'm not out there taking pictures, writing more, and surrounding myself with inspiration. We all will need to roll up our sleeves, get our hands dirty and we're going to have to work to see the change we wish to see.

...and even if things don't come out exactly the way we hoped, our expectation that things will work out for the best, we have to remember...everything happens for a reason, and we'll come out a little wiser from every experience, good or bad. With 2008 behind us, we'll take what happened to us last year and put in that effort to make sure that 2009 isn't the even worse sequel of its predecessor.

I'm ready get to work...are you?



Of course, 2008 wasn't 366 days full of nightmare. There were some good things, including the capture of some pretty remarkable images, a very few of which were compiled in The Boston Globe blog.


Click on for larger image as well as additional images