-
Henican: Wretched '08 sets bar low for '09
Photo credit: Urbanite
At times like this, it’s always better to look forward than to look back.
And I will. In a moment.
But who can resist one last outburst of disappointment and disgust at the past 11 months and 30 days? Good riddance, 2008! Do you know anyone who had a really good year?
The stock market tumbling. People losing their homes. Retirement savings, cut off at the knees. The banks and the car makers, teetering at bankruptcy. Two million jobs, just gone.
It was a year of problems so real and so personal, many people even forgot about Afghanistan and Iraq. And now, just in time for the ball drop, the Middle East is on fire again. The Chinese were obviously onto something with the Year of the Rat. The only hard part is choosing an official mascot: Bernie Madoff? The credit-card pushers? Our own shallow greed?Now here’s the good thing about hope: It really does spring eternal. And here’s the good thing about new years: They really do come around every 12 months.
And here’s a cheery fact at the year of 2008: This miserable year set the bar of comparison so low, we’re likely to be grinning like maniacs this time next year.
If the economy is only half a disaster, it won’t feel so awful any more.
If you still hate your job but you have it — hey, break out the champagne.
If your stocks are down just 20 percent, shrug and tell yourself, “It could have been a whole lot worse — and was.”
As you might have heard, we have a new man moving into the White House. He ran on
a slogan, “Yes we can.”
Who knows whether he can — or not? But after eight of “no we can’t ever,” even the occasional achievement will look pretty good.
Happy New Year! Bring it on!
- Follow Us
advertisement | advertise on am New York
advertisement | advertise on am New York
Partners
Search cars
