Another year done gone

It’s always hard to fathom another year being put in the books. Often, the end of the year is filled with remorse, regret and a resolve to do better during the coming year. I’m no different than many in that I’ve made my share of stupid resolutions—some years I even wrote them down!

I’ll not bore you with any resolutions this year. For the first time in many years and possibly in my 42 years on the planet, I reach the end of a year without any significant personal regrets.

For the past year, I’ve moved in a direction that has been positive for me. Last January, I left a cubicle in corporate America to pursue writing as my vocation, instead of hobby. While I’ve made less money this year than during any previous one, I can honestly say I’m happier than I’ve ever been, although my happiness might be another man’s (or woman’s) dismay.

I’ve come to recognize personally, rather than intellectually, that “things” don’t make you happy. Happiness, as elusive as it may be, comes from the people you surround yourself with, the choices you make to embrace your inner self, or creative muse (or whatever you want to call it, without sounding like some New Age crank); some might call it living intuitively versus depending entirely upon over analysis in all that you do.

While I certainly have things I’d like to do better in 2005, or improvements that I’d like to make; things like losing ten pounds, getting an article (s) published in a national magazine, being a little more focused on others rather than myself, I’m not going to obsess or beat myself up about them. I’m learning to be comfortable in my own skin and I hope you are too.

I’d like to end this soliloquy with my list of the people and things I appreciate from 2004:

The Good:

My wife and lifelong partner, Mary (props and mad love), my son Mark (may you have fun at life), my dog (and walking partner) Bernie, blogging, books, Atrios, libraries, Jose Ayerve, Paul at FACE, the Millers (#1 family), DrFrag (tech guru), Matt Newberg (plus Jeff, Darren, Greg and of course, Norm!), AirAmerica, civil discourse, Reny’s, Sally at APL, my uncle Bob, old time baseball, Clif Bars, drivers who slow down, asfo_del(your writing rocks!), Chuck Munson and Infoshop, WFMU, Mike Lupica, Joe Belock, Irene Trudel, PBR, local music, free pubs, The Pigeon (RIP), indie bookstores, South Park, John Stewart, CSpan, Fair Trade Coffee, Chicky’s Diner, Orion Magazine, Derrick Jensen, Wendell Berry, The Movies, Neil Young, Trudy Chambers Price, used records, Twilight Baseball (Al and Frankie), the baseball guys, Wisdom Weasel, the Hartleys, and all the little and not so little things that make life worth living.

The Not-So-Good, The Bad, and The Ugly:

The war in Iraq, tsunamis, governments that lie, obfuscate and mislead, power, George Bush, Dick Cheney, Rummy, Britney Spears, reality TV, stupid people, faux patriotism, Tim Russert and the other corporate media hacks, Bill O’Reilly (sucks), drivers who don’t slow down (and talk on cell phones), Wal-Mart, chain stores, Sinclair Broadcasting, greedy rich bastards, professional sports, The Portland Press Herald, capitalism run amok, ideologues, publications who don’t pay on time, asshole editors, kitsch, lousy parents, boorish kids, sweatshops, former co-workers/"friends" too self-absorbed to answer your emails, Desperate Housewives, selfish people, strip malls, inequality, gentrification, yuppies, SUV’s, military spending, and all the other things that rob us of our life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Happy New Year! May 2005 be a year when people matter more than profit, where talent and creativity are rewarded, and where nature and its creatures are protected instead of paved over. May peace be the norm, rather than the exception!

Disaster relief update

Thanks to Richard over at no more big wheels for his link to a clearinghouse of sites and organizations involved in disaster relief.

You can access it at enemy of the state.

I would urge everyone out there to contribute what you can to help alleviate the misery and suffering of the tens of thousands affected by the tsunami.

Natural disaster

The tsunami that hit southern Asia has left a swath of destruction across the region. The numbers killed from the various countries hit by waves that some estimate were 10 stories tall, are growing by the hour.

The death toll is being estimated at over 27,000 for areas affected along the southern Asian coastline. According to The Times of India, hardest hit were Sri Lanka with more than 12,000 reported fatalities, and India, which is reporting 8,500 killed by the natural disaster. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) reports Indonesia was hit hard, with the latest official death toll at 4,422, but the number is certain to rise. Most of the victims are in the province of Aceh on the northern tip of Sumatra, which has been the target of a huge military operation aimed at crushing separatist rebels and cowering the population. Media coverage in the province has been subject to severe restrictions and censorship for more than a year. Other affected areas were the low-lying Maldives and the Andaman Islands, coastal areas of Thailand, including the holiday resort island of Phuket, as well as Malaysia and Burma, which received poundings by the massive seas. The tsunami was felt as far away as east Africa—6,000 kilometres to the west—including Kenya, Somalia and Tanzania. Nine people were killed in Somalia.

The tsunami, or tidal wave, was triggered by a massive earthquake that was measured at 8.9 on the Richter Scale by the National Earthquake Centre at the US Geological Survey. This quake was the largest since 1964 and the fifth largest measured since 1900.

The devastation is hard to fathom for us in America. We have had our earthquakes, flooding, as well as the death toll from 9-11, but nothing of the magnitude of the carnage being beamed into our homes from this region thousands of miles away. Reports of aid being sent are starting to materialize. Many ordinary Americans want to do something, as is often the case when we witness tragedy. Our government has pledged an initial $15 million, which I certainly hope will be increased.

I hope that many of the multinational corporations who have been the beneficiaries of the low-wage labor from many of these devastated countries might step forth and offer tangible aid and resources. One can argue the ethics of sweatshop labor day and night, but regardless of its rightness, now is a time for corporate capitalists to pony up and show the world whether they have any moral compass or not.

For individuals who want to help the victims, there are a couple of options that might be good places to start; the International Red Cross is always an immediate responder to disasters across the world. For those looking for a faith-based agency, the interfaith Church World Services has been a long-time responder to the needs of the world's citizens requiring help and resources in the midst of war or natural disasters.

If readers have other reputable aid agencies and organizations that provide direct relief in the form of medical supplies, clothing, food, as well as temporary shelter, I'd be happy to pass the information along in future posts.

A national holiday

Sometimes I think that the U.S. should just make the period between Christmas Eve and New Year’s Day, a national holiday. For the miniscule amount of work and productivity that’s accomplished, Americans would benefit from the relaxation and vacation such a period would allow.

Granted, those poor souls stuck in their retail sector ghetto would never be allowed time off. With corporate bean counters doing all they can to either recover from a lackluster holiday season, or move merchandise in their annual post-holiday price massacres, the working poor that make up American retail would be forced to perform their regular labor routines.

Having worked in a variety of places over the past ten years, I’ve found that most workers do as little work as they humanly can during this period. Additionally, with women now making up an ample portion of the labor force and taking portions of the holiday break off in order to stay home with little Johnny and Janie, voice mail greetings inform you that Mary in marketing, or Suzy in accounts payable is out of the office until January 5th. Because you can’t get anyone else to return calls, you decide to pull the plug on any meaningful projects until that second week of January.

In my own life, I’ve found it hard to rev up the productivity necessary to move my writing forward in any meaningful way this week. The two or three days around Christmas have killed my momentum. Also, most editors, publishers and others will be out of the office for much of the next week or so making any mailing of manuscripts futile. I am also being asked to work the next four nights manning the phones and handling a rush of Christmas returns in my seasonal position, so I’m in my own holding pattern of sorts.

It’s all a vicious cycle, so I really think my national holiday idea warrants some consideration. You never know, it could become a campaign issue worth considering, as leisure time is never as plentiful in America as it is for our friends across the pond in Europe.

The War on Christmas

The media’s latest “flavor of the month” is the supposed “war on Christmas”. Apparently, heathen, atheistic liberals have removed all vestiges of Jesus from a holiday that had long ago been divested of its higher meaning.

Like the misreporting on the war in Iraq, particularly in the early days of fighting, the inability of the press to hold President Bush to standards of journalism applied to other presidents, and recently, the bogus “red state/blue state” divide in America, the media in all its traditional functions keeps missing the real stories.

Christians have taken up the torch and are once more playing a role that they seem most comfortable in—that of the poor, persecuted believer.

The last time I drove around, I didn’t see any lack of Christmas lights, nativity scenes, and other symbols and decorations specific to Christmas.

While I have nothing against anyone celebrating Christmas, I also recognize that not everyone is a Christian in America, and that others may celebrate this holiday in ways that don’t include Jesus.

This entire faux battle about the religious importance of Christmas isn’t new to me. I remember in 1982, I had just left the University of Maine and was back in my hometown looking for a car. I stopped by a gas station on Lisbon Street where the proprietor had used one of those spray cans that dispense white lettering for windows; in great big letters, he had the following message—“Jesus is the reason for the season”. The owner felt it was his duty to talk about Jesus with everyone who entered his business. I stopped in and had to listen to his spiel about the secularization of Christmas until I couldn’t take it any longer and left. The issue wasn’t big news at the time, because the media hadn’t seized upon the issue. For years, many Christians have claimed Christmas as their domain. While I don’t begrudge their right to celebrate, unfortunately, they are often played by religious leaders and others as pawns in this ongoing culture war that is a myth.

America is a diverse and multicultural nation, despite what the pundits and hate talkers ridiculously assert. Because of this, the holiday season, beginning from Thanksgiving through New Years, isn’t the property solely of the religious right and others who revel in the need to create pitched battles that benefit their bottom line. All this does is keep America divided at a time when we need to begin pulling together against our real enemies.

I close by saying that the Baumer household does celebrate Christmas, albeit in a very un-American, non-consumer sort of way. We buy hardly any gifts, other than the occasional item of clothing for family members in need.

Last year, we decided on creating our own traditions as a self-contained unit of three, due primarily to the unpredictable holiday celebrations of our extended families. As a result, my wife and I hold an open house Christmas Eve, which we have jokingly dubbed, "the misfits Christmas Eve celebration". We extend invitations to family (who usually don't come), friends, and others who might be looking for a place to get a meal, a cup of grog, and experience a festive celebration that is similar to what I remember the holidays being when I was a kid—a time when family and friends came together and enjoyed one another’s company. I think we need a whole lot more of this type of Christmas, or holdiday spirit, don't you?

To all my readers, I want to take this opportunity to wish you and yours a very festive and happy holiday in whatever way you choose to celebrate it.