Wednesday, December 31, 2014

HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYBODY!


By Patrick

Another year is over. 2014 was eventful, and for domestic US politics, it was not a good year. The next year certainly will be challenging in this respect. Personally, we know that our readers and friends had some very positive experiences, and also some very tragic losses. Life is a journey, in which we have to find ourselves, and find a meaning as well. When the people who were our partners on this journey suddenly disappear, we should remember the times of joy and happiness we had with them, and this is how they would have liked it.

Kathleen and I had a nice break over the Christmas holidays so far, and there was much time for reflection. Living in a little care-free paradise across the ocean, in which most of the problems which we discuss here on our forum on a daily basis virtually do not exist, there is much to think about. Unity, common respect, decency, kindness - these are some of the elements that a society desperately needs, as well as the conviction that rules within a Democracy should not be abused, or altered arbitrarily, just so that one side gets an unfair advantage. Let's hope that the balance of power within the USA does not swing even more towards the rich, because this is in my view the most destructive development in the USA these days.

In accordance with the contemplative tone of this post, I present some winter photos which I took in Germany:




We all leave our little footprints in life:




Finally, switching to a different topic, it is well worth to remember one thing: Gun control works. The tragedies which occur on a daily basis in the USA are almost all preventable. In one of the finest segments of the "Daily Show" ever made, John Oliver got to the bottom of this subject. Maybe you haven't seen these three clips so far - they should be revisited over and over again, and there is actually not much else to say on this subject. Pure brilliance!

CLIP 1:



CLIP 2:



CLIP 3:



We wish you all a happy, 
healthy and wonderful 2015!

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