It's All The Same Year

In two weeks we will close the calendar on 2009, and on the first decade of the 21st century. But does this mean we are cutting the ties that bind us to the economy or the actions that took us into the economic crash? Certainly not.

I do believe we ended 2005 and 2006 shouting "Happy NEW Year!!" in expectation of better things to come. The expectation did not include any ceasation of activities which seemed to be working. We wanted to continue doing what we were doing, we just wished for more of the same result.

Now we want the pain to go away and return to the good old days. Do you ever wish for just one more year like 2004 when making money in real estate was easier than toasting bread?  And yet on 12/31/04 were you grateful or hopeful? In '04 and '05 we could not stop the reckless course of lend and spend. We turned the page of the calendar and expected the money tree to produce more fruit sooner and longer. And then the tree gave us less and less until the fruit was much smaller and less plentiful than we demanded.

Change can only begin when we stop an action. Once the action ends we change can begin. Change only requires different choices. If we choose to manipulate and misguide we will get more of the same because a new year or a new decade isn't new anything. Time is nothing. People are everything.  Mothers and fathers. Sons and daughters, brothers sisters. Grandparents. People remain people. What we called 2008 became 2009 but what we think of time did not change. People, not days,  will respond favorably to what we do and what we be.

We are making progress in coming to terms with reality. By continuing to look at our part in the situation we grow in being part of the solution. Expecting ourselves to take right actions and then doing right, and not relying on an imaginary magic of time, makes a difference we can be please with.

I let go of dependence on new years and will use what I learned on this road that knows no end.