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Saturday, January 1, 2011

Not a Perfect Ten , But…..


Not a Perfect Ten , But…..
AdiĆ³s 2010..Bienvenido 2011

As the year 2010 has come to an end I take a personal look back and give the year a grade. It was not a perfect 10, but it was not a year that for my family and myself was one that we are glad to see the back of. In my opinion there were two events that come at the top for inspiration. They were FIFA’s World Football Cup that was hosted by South Africa. This was the first time an African country had the opportunity to act as host and they seemed to have satisfied those attending and proved their capabilities. I must also mention that Spain won the cup, as though there is even one person on the planet who does not already know that.

Secondly, the successful rescue of 33 miners from the depths of hell in Chile was nothing short of a miracle. Not such a long time ago the lives of those men would have been lost to a very slow death due to a lack of facilities to get them out. It was a textbook case of everybody involved doing the exact correct thing when required that led to ultimate success. What we saw as each man was brought up into the fresh air was a person being born again, quite literally.

There were no shortages of things to choose from on the downside, but my number one sad occurrence was the loss of the 29 miners in the blow-out of the New Zealand mine in November. I choose this event because it is in such stark contrast with the Chile rescue. The circumstances were so different as to disallow a duplicate of the successful event, and it would not appear that anyone made a bad judgement. What it does highlight is the incredibly dangerous circumstance in which people work on a daily basis to bring energy to you and to me. We really should be aware of such efforts and not take things so much for granted.

Another downside event is the actions of North Korea in their provocations against South Korea. These two countries have existed in a state of suspended war since their cease-fire more than fifty years ago. They have admirably held their fire, even going so far as to find areas of mutual cooperation. Now, it seems that the North are hell-bent on resuming war against the South, and by implication this could be the start of World War Three. What the hell is going through the mind of the dictator?

I must also mention the very sad case of Haiti, an island that has never experienced good luck in its existence. Every bad thing that could happen will have as its destination Haiti. Why Haiti?

What is 2011 likely to bring to the world? I fear that we will see matters go from bad to worse regarding most things. The U.S. Dollar will likely suffer a great setback, and that will have a very serious impact on the economy of that country. The euro also will be greatly affected by certain of its member states and that will severely test the virtue of the concept upon which it is based.

Unfortunately, unemployment will likely get worse, rather than better, and that may lead to more militancy among labour unions. Unfortunately, I just don’t see a light at the end of the tunnel; in fact I cannot even see the end of the tunnel. The capitalist system, like the Communist system is broke, and what is needed are new systems to replace the old.

These are very trying times, but if we take the optimist view it is also a time for opportunity. Necessity is usually the Mother of Invention so hopefully this will bring forth exciting new ways of doing things.

I wish us all positive experiences during this year. I may not be able to see how such positive things will come about, but if we all think positively that will be a start.

Copyright © 2011 Eugene Carmichael