Though Torn in Two

By my count, we’re only at twenty-four and change hours into the New Year, so this may be a little rash especially since the sample size is small but I think 2019 has been a pretty good year so far.

Okay, I spent a good part of it so far sleeping and have only recently gotten out of bed, but, let's face it, these are some trying times in which we live and I would know, having been called trying by some of the best (just trying to keep up).   

I'm not going to waste your time telling you what a turbulent year 2018 was. If you're able to read this, you already knew that and you have it from far more authoritative and knowledgeable sources than a pinhead like me.

And while the last week to ten days has been interesting as we revisit in print and on television the big stories of the year just passed, I think we all reach a point where we just wonder what the purpose of the nostalgia really is. Yes, it’s good to remember and to look back but it’s probably better to realize that’s not the direction we’re heading in or should be.  

I’m not from Norwich (you know that); I wasn’t born here, but I’m from here now, and I choose to look forward to this year, 2019, with the same hope for continued progress personally, politically, economically and philosophically that I had when what’s now the old year was itself a hope-filled new year.

As partners, parents, and neighbors defined (or not) both by who we are and where we live, we should promise ourselves and each other to work harder and smarter which I think is a big part of what we need, not just in the New Year but for every day and not just in Norwich, but across the country. 

A lot of the challenges we face here in 2019 we've been staring at for quite some time (that whole nostalgia thing again) and while too often we prefer problems that are familiar to solutions which may not be, this might be a good year, if not the best one so far, to stop looking for somebody to step up and help out and, instead, be that somebody ourselves.

As a rule, I don’t make (or keep) New Year’s resolutions (the only one in recent years was the one to stop having them) but I’m not above attempting alliances and seeking partnerships and I’m betting/hoping that you are, too.

I think we get daunted by what we see as the enormity of the tasks we face be they in our personal lives, interpersonal relationships, and here where we live. I don’t think I’m the only one and if you’re the same way that would make two of us and that’s a good start. And on this, the second day of the new year, a good start is a good place for all of us to be.

-bill kenny