2011 was a fairly tumultuous year for me and in the larger picture. In retrospect, it would have been interesting to start this blog on the first day of that year to chronicle the selling of the house and associated pain/joy/etc. But, not knowing if the house would sell, that could have ended up being painful.
This time of year there are lots of look-backs to things that happened over the last 12 arbitrary months. In the rear view mirror, there are always things that looked important, that aren't after the advantage of a few more weeks or months. On January 1, 2001 I started compiling a list of notable events that occurred on an almost daily basis. On Sept. 11 of that year, I stopped. Obviously the events of that day overshadowed everything else that happened and formed the basis of a lot of what happened in the subsequent decade. However, as the 10-year anniversary of that event rolled past, I believe there was significantly more press given to the current economic conditions in the US and globally, than the overall aftermath of those events even though there was/is still two "wars" in progress as a result. It is interesting that in the look-backs, very little has been said about Osama Bin Laden and his death. A paradox of the terrorist must be that success breeds irrelevance. In his success in 2001, so much attention was focused on him that by the time he was killed this year, he was a shell of his former self and the "victory" of his killing was largely symbolic. Symbolic victories are important as well.
When I think back to my 2001 list, two other events stand out. In that year, India and Pakistan were rattling nuclear sabers at each other and violence in Kashmir was constantly in the news. I can only assume that the excitement in neighboring Afghanistan forced a rethinking of how the animosity is played out if not the substance of that animosity. The other even that stands out was a mid-air collision between a US spy plane and a Chinese fighter after a "thumping" near the China coast. The US plane was disabled and the Chinese plane destroyed, pilot killed. The US plane landed at a Chinese airport. Eventually the crew and plane made it back to the US. With the rise of the influence and economy of China over the past decade, these events could be interpreted differently now.
For me (personally), the last year is most influenced by the sale of the house. With more time to reflect, the decision to move is a good one now that the old house is sold. I hope the new owners are as happy as we were when we bought it. This morning as I was reading the paper, I looked out the window and saw the following scene:
In some ways, this image defines the new year for me and the changes over the last two. I love being able to look out my window while drinking my coffee and reading the paper, and see no houses, no people, but cows. In reality, a shift of a few feed will show other houses, but for the moment, that doesn't matter. All I see are cows. Contentment of this kind can be transient as bad neighbors could move in or the house could be destroyed in a tornado, but we can't predict the future and so must enjoy now (while still thinking about the future).
I hope 2012 is filled with a lot of cows for everyone.
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