2010

To me, 2010 is better than 2009. We often say "two oh oh nine" but correctly it should be "two zero zero nine" so "twenty ten" is much easier. And it's something we may forget early in 2010 when we write 2009 on our checks. Recently my wife mistakenly wrote 1909 for 2009 and so it goes.

We've been watching our Congress struggle with deadlines (this is being written in mid- December, 2009 so I don't have the results in hand), with getting a quorum, trying to make some hefty decisions. Whatever occurs, some of us wonder what may happen not in 2010 but in 2015 or 2020.

We hear of talk about passing on a huge debt to our grandchildren countered by either a consoling "we seniors won't be around then" or "that kind of talk is nonsense." We are also concerned about our planet and its survival (as we should be) with both substantiated and speculative data involved. We seniors remember WWII and how the world survived. We also remember the Marshall Plan and how we aided both friend and foe with $13 billion over 6 years.

We are concerned, and rightfully so, about racial discrimination but should be even more concerned about discrimination of any kind. And we could go on and on about what is in store for us in 2010 so that we could become pessimists rather than optimists. Or perhaps opportunists "the practice or policy of adapting one's actions, judgments in order to further one's immediate interests without regard for basic principles or eventual consequences" rather than philanthropists, "a desire to help mankind as shown by gifts to charitable or humanitarian institutions."

We should be Philanthropists you say? You can't be serious. But I am. We don't have to be wealthy to have a desire to help mankind if we are rich in spirit. A resolve to be at least Mini-philanthropists realizing that many of us cannot be big donors is an option. 2010 is begging us save our planet, to create more jobs, to help our neighbor, to help fill food depots, to contribute to worthy organizations dedicated to helping mankind, at home and abroad. If so, 2010 could be a landmark year and our grandchildren when reaching maturity and reading history will be proud.