The Passing of the Year

Every year seems to look weirder in retrospect than previous years and 2009, the year that "Octomom" became a household word has proven to be no exception.

The year began with great fanfare about the inauguration of Barack Obama as President of the United States. As I asked in that post, would the policies reflect the soaring rhetoric? It soon became obvious that the policies would not favor protection of the lives of the most defenseless, though the prolife movement marched on with new resiliency.

This year we became all too used to hearing of dollar amounts in the trillions as stimulus, "Cap and Trade" and most of all health care became the issues of the day. While the acute financial crisis of late 2008 abated, rising unemployment caused continuing public anxiety over the economy. Meanwhile. the emerging "clinategate" scandal demonstrated that the certainty underlying much of the prevailing conventional wisdom is not so certain after all.

Economic turmoil and increased government intervention in citizen's lives spurred a new grassroots movement that recalls America's revolutionary roots by adopting the "tea party" logo as the political winds once again seem to be shifting direction.

With all of our domestic turmoil we are reminded that is still a dangerous world with the terrorist atrocity committed by a single individual at Ft. Hood and the averting of an even greater atrocity aboard Flight 253 on Christmas day. The struggles in Iran and other nations show how precious freedom and peace are in our world.

Progress continued in many fields of endeavor. This year I had the special opportunity to participate in the final mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope. (To review my posts on the mission, go to my May 2009 archives and scroll to the bottom, then scroll upward to read the posts in ascending order.) The launch of other science probes and the near completion of the International Space Station and the continuing emergence of the commercial sector highlight the year in space while the nation underwent a major reassessment of the direction and implementation of its human spaceflight program. Look for decisions in early 2010, a year known for a fictional space odyssey.

So once again we need to be prayerful and vigilant while hopeful and proactive as we face another new year.