New World?

For the first time in seven years, the new year started out without a personal crisis on the horizon. I'm still gun-shy and each new good thing makes me wonder when the other shoe will drop.

For the first time that I can ever remember, even my mother was revved up about the upcoming inaugaration of Obama. Mom is a life-long republican but has always voted for the best person for a political job no matter what the party affiliation. This time, for the second time, she not only voted for the Democratic ticket but voted for a black president. In our household and among our friends, the "anything is better than Bush" thought is prevalent though obviously I do not want anyone in the White House who cannot do any better. Bush's shoot now and ask questions later approach was how things worked in the Old West but not in modern America. I still do not understand why we have not been waging the war where Bin Laden lives. Maybe Bush was too chicken to take the war to Bin Laden's front step. If we are going to fight a war, let's go where the enemy lives. I'm all for smoking Bin Laden out or making it impossible to do business. But being in Iraq isn't doing all that.

I believe Bush was too afraid to go where Bin Laden lives because it is not a traditional war situation for our troops. Just going in and start shooting isn't what's needed. I think Obama (and hope) will go where our former president did not in the quest to protect ourselves from those who wish to harm us.

It's wait and see.

Some hard choices . .

The fictitious hero Jack Bauer of the popular TV show "24" makes no apologies for having tortured individuals he knew held information that would led to capturing a terrorist(s). In real life, the decision to torture an individual for information he or she may have isn't an easy decision if you are any kind of a human being. I've asked myself how far would I go to get information out of someone who I believed had the fate of thousands or millions of people in his or her hands.

If I was sure that person had such information and millions of lives were at stake, I probably would engage in some despicable acts. At least I think so but I don't know for sure. The sight and smell of blood in a real environment makes me sick to my stomach big time. Of course torture can be justified if you cite that the person being tortured can stop it at any time by providing the desired information. You have to hope that the person being tortured does indeed know anything of use to you.

What a horrible decision to have to make and then live with. How far would you go if all this was in your hands?

There are some simpler choice in regards to self-preservation. I do know that if someone broke into my house and was coming up the stairs I would have no problem shooting that person with my trusty .38. Would I hope to kill the person for daring to break into my house?

No. I only hope to stop him or her from wreaking havoc on me or anyone else in my household. I have no qualms about doing that. I would be less than thrilled about having to shot someone but it was not my choice to break into the house and menace the occupants. I am not a good person to try and menace.

It's unfortunate in this life that choices have to be made about self-preservation but those who put us in the position of having to make a choice - a violent choice - do not give us much choice, do they?

Moving Along, singing a song . .

If you have experienced about seven years worth of bad luck, it should be expected that a sudden good thing would be viewed with some trepidation. I landed an extremely well-paying job kicking off in grand style in December and hovering bills of pending doom have been paid off. The next project is paying off personal loans that have accrued over the past several years.

To top it off, the candidate that I voted for won the presidential election this year. This was the most exciting election this country has seen in decades. One friend of mine cautioned that Obama didn't have the experience regarding war. She couldn't really tell me where President Bush's so-called war experience showed itself during his tenure or that of any of his other supposedly "experienced" advisors. This country has faced its worst financial crisis in half a century and the war in Iraq is a frankenstein. Thank you, Mr. Bush.

It was nothing short of a miracle that I landed this job when I did considering the environment. I definitely count my blessings.