2009 Year in Review? No Thanks

The last week of December is generally a very special time of the year. It's a week of shopping with gift cards, eating holiday left-overs, making lofty weightloss goals, and my personal favorite - reading the Year in Reviews. Unfortunately, this year sucked. Even Dave Barry, who specializes in taking less than favorable situations and making them hilarious, wrote his Year in Review with a slightly heavy hand that, frankly, left me bored and tired of 2009. However, at the risk of sounding like a complete narcissist, I had a wonderful 2009! I spent the first half of the year finishing up my airline extravaganza, then proceeded to move to a town where I've had the opportunity to do some acting, re-connect with old friends, and I've found a place in a community that I love. To be honest, I'm a little torn. I feel like I should write some lengthy diatribe on the social climate of America. It would read something like: We've inaugurated the first quasi-black president, America continues its cultural decline as illustrated by John and Kate and a balloon boy, and we've started yet another 'war on terrorism,' only this time it's in Afghanistan. That's my Year in Review in a nutshell. So here's my question: Why does America insist on continually punishing itself? We can't have an 'All-American' celebration without a guilt-complex resonating in the background. For such a young country, we certainly have a lot of baggage. Just for one night, let's put our differences aside, break open the champagne and toast the coming of a new year! Maybe it's not that simple. Our country was founded on the tennents of conflict, seperation, and partisanship. With our resounding HAPPY NEW YEAR comes another, not so celebratory exclamation. Hopefully in the coming year everyone will receive equal rights, hopefully we can finally bring the troops home, hopefully the unemployment rate will go down, hopefully we'll all have affordable healthcare. But it's not likely . . . so let's raise a glass to our lips and hope instead that our hangover isn't too debilitating, that our day jobs stay intact, that we can hold on to the simple joys of merely being together during the holidays. It isn't world peace, but it's something. Happy New Year.

Check out Dave Barry's Year in Review for yourself:
http://www.miamiherald.com/living/columnists/dave-barry/story/1397654.html