Goodbye 2009; Hello 2010

Goodbye 2009 and welcome 2010. It's been a year of great changes; some good; some bad.

We've seen the arrival of the first African-American President of the United States, which gave millions of people world-wide that change can happen, and sometimes in this life-time.

It's been a heck of a year and people whose songs have influenced many people, are now gone. People like M.J aka Michael Jackson, whose music and lyrics spoke of love and multiculturalism. Others like Walter Kronkite, Patrick Swayze, Ted Kennedy and Karl Malden will all be remembered too.

Others have died too young and still full of talent.

It is hard to know what will come about in the New Year. Death is sometimes something we cannot prevent and is unforseeable. At the same time, we, all of us, have the power to change things for the better. Like changing our way of thinking, from negative to positive. Like making positive choices, whether it be limiting our caloric intact, to cutting down the number of credit cards one has in the purse.

Whenever we set up a plan to do things, we often are prevented from doing so, due to external things, like television or the latest gadget. 2010 should be a time for us to realize all of our dreams and reach our full potential. If this means limiting the amount of television, so be it. Think of all the things one can do or take part in next year: like learning to paint, pursue art, or cook a difficult dish, or volunteering at the local S.P.C.A. Why wait for tomorrow? Now is the time to do what you have been putting off. Excuses is something we all dream of. Action is the power to change and make something out of nothing.

If we fail to take action for ourselves and make life interesting for ourselves, we may end up with something like this on our epitaph: Television ruled my life.