The insanity is about to end.

Change is in the air. I can smell it like a pending snowfall. I’m not sure if it’s the careening soar toward the end of 2017 that has me believing change is afoot or whether the volume on the near-silent hum of winter’s slumber has raised an octave or two just to remind us all that it is time to put things to rest.

It has been, by any measure, an exhausting year. Personal triumphs have been overshadowed by the dithering mud fights on Twitter that have kept us lock-jawed in a fight against moral depravity. Many of us feel personally attacked, defensive, war-weary.

And yet this year has brought so many great things outside the circus ring. And if you were to look at your own personal examples, my guess is you have experienced good things too.

Both of my children graduated from their respective schools. Did something good happen in your family?

My son had the summer of a lifetime visiting US family. Did you enjoy a restful vacation or holiday?

My daughter loves her course of study and has discovered so many things she is good at. Have you watched someone you love experience a personal victory too?

I traveled to Nepal and India. What others cultures have you experienced this year?

As a blogger for the Freiburg music festival in the summer, I had multiple eye-opening experiences about the power of music. How have the arts affected you this year?

Recently, I reconnected with old friends and family I hadn’t seen in over thirty years. What connections did you feel this year?

Even in trying times of personal pain, a window always opens where that door slams shut. Some people exited my life whom I thought would always be there. Others entered. The shifts in perspective and the move to a new apartment have provided a layer of protection against the whimsical forces of life’s mystery. And amazingly, new people are showing up to celebrate it all.

While many things have happened in the public arena this year to cause grave concern, the greater resilience of the human spirit has been called forth. And people are responding.

Through demonstrations.
Through breaking the silence.
Through political activism.
Through phone calls, letters and emails to political representatives.

Much good has come from the insanity. I look forward to the change that is around the corner. I predict it will bring us closer together than ever before.

After all, we are human. And that is indeed something we #sharetogether.

 

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