80.0°,
Partly Cloudy What I know now that I didn’t know then
Think about what you know now, January 2010, that you didn’t know a year ago. Standing on the threshold of the new year, we have a moment to look back at how those 365 days changed us, as individuals and as a people and as paid-up members of the human race.
One year ago I was waiting — waiting for the inauguration of Barack Obama, the 44th president of the United States. I was fearing a possible terrorist attack in the days following the inauguration, and I was waiting to hear how the best and the brightest were going to pull the country back from the brink of another Great Depression.
I was anxious to see how health care reform could be pushed through Congress within a year, I was waiting to read all the new books on my list, and I was waiting to see if the miniature irises I planted in the fall would blossom in the spring.
Every year begins like a thriller. What adventures lie ahead? What delights await us? What pain and travail will block our path? Who will be standing at the end of 365 days? What will be learned from another year on earth?
Perhaps the most annoying, aggravating, irritating and generally obnoxious presence in 2009 was the TV media. From the 24/7 coverage of Michael Jackson’s death to the ridiculous Balloon Boy non-event to the adventures of Sarah Palin to the death panel lies, the media flogged every sensational story it could find until the drumbeat of repetition and hype threatened to make us dumber than we already are. It was a pathetic year for TV journalism, but we must assume they’re just giving us what we want.
How ironic, then, that Walter Cronkite died last year, and with him a certain brand of reliable and ethical news broadcasting. I will always remember the slow camera shot as he took off his glasses and announced that President Kennedy was dead after being shot in Dallas.
It was a tough year here at home, with the economy slowly creeping out of a deep recession. As the year turned, signs were improving, but not for millions of our friends and neighbors who still can’t find work.
