The Year of Living Dangerously.

The Year of Living Dangerously.  This is the title of a 1982 Australian film starring Mel Gibson.  That, my friends, is where we are and what we have to look forward to. 

With the worst president in my lifetime still in office and trying to cram every legacy-building executive action imaginable into his final year, there is absolutely no telling what we might see.  With the Democrats and Republicans trying to select their candidates to succeed this charlatan, there is no telling what we might hear.  With the Middle East in chaos, Putin unchained, North Korea watching the sands of the Obama hourglass trickle down, and China simply being China, there is no telling what might happen.  In my lifetime, I don’t believe there has ever been a time when our planet is facing more uncertainty than it will in 2016.  I realize that statement takes into account times of war; but somehow, someway, those conflicts seemed more defined that today’s turmoil.  The causes and the good guys/bad guys definitions seemed somewhat clearer then than they do now; the ability of evil forces in this world to exist and operate seemed to be met with a stronger coalition of common cause in the past.  Wasn’t it a more defined resistance to universally acknowledged bad behavior?  Everything today is so muddled, so confused.  Everyone has an agenda and the technical ability to put forth their agenda so very persuasively.  Political correctness oftentimes persuades (not prevents) even sincere and well-meaning people from being open and honest about the grim realities facing our nation and our planet. 

We truly exist in a world where there is six degrees of separation.  More than ever before and on an accelerating basis, the nations of this world and all the peoples they represent are interconnected; bundled up in a shrinking space where walls of privacy and secrecy are crumbing, fundamental cultural differences are being thrust into the open and creating necessary adjustments that are simply difficult to manage, and where a sorting out of values is being performed on a real-time basis.  Where common interests once existed, we now have impenetrable borders (both physically and psychologically) where the first reaction is not what serves the common cause, but what serves my cause.  Obama endeavors to seek his legacy through shallow, transparent, overt, and audacious independent actions meant to highlight his endless wisdom and super intelligence; while his true legacy is swirling around the vacuum he has created in American governmental competence and Global leadership.  The United States has not always been right in its international initiatives; but it has typically been guided by a moral compass that is pretty well grounded towards true north.  Without that leadership, a discord and self-serving mentality has permeated this planet and the small, painfully ignorant, people who run it. 

At a time when New Year’s resolutions are the flavor du jour, I will be the spoiler who sees the wrong instead of the right.  Are there many things to celebrate in this world?  Of course there are; true miracles happen every day.  The forces of good are alive and well in our lives and continue to work in every way to make this a good and decent place for all.  But when each of us takes that next quiet moment to speak with our God, we had better include a plea for wisdom and strength to see us through this next year.  There is evil in this world and that evil is empowered as it has never been before.  The leadership of the force that must counter this evil is splintered, distracted, incompetent, and naïve.  Many times in the past, the simple power of good has been sufficient to unite disparate forces and overcome the challenges that evil has presented.  Will that simple power be enough to overcome the next challenge that evil presents?  Will the varied members of good be able to agree on the definition of right and wrong and will their resolve be adequate to meet the force thrust upon them by an evil that has abilities and resources heretofore unheard of in history?  

In so many ways, and in the sands of time, year 2016 may be a watershed moment in the history of this world.  Can we somehow sufficiently still the tempests that roil the planet in order to formulate a pathway to better times?  Will the events that are ongoing be forestalled and allow enough time for reconsideration and consolidation of effort?  Or, are we locked into an irreconcilable period of time where events have simply gone too far and must play out to their ultimate and disastrous ends?  And most importantly, in the midst of this turmoil, can America find the wisdom and will to select a leader capable of dealing with the challenges that lie ahead for this nation and the world?

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