New Year’s Day 2024

Today is a day for beginnings, for taking a single step that establishes the trajectory of countless miles.

 The beginning is a time for taking the most delicate care that the balances are correct, said the Princess Irulan, in her biography of Muad’Dib; a small miscalculation at the outset, any deviation from the plan no matter how subtle, will cause you to miss your mark by a wide margin.

 This may deter you from your end or get you to a place you never intended to be. Great care must be taken at the beginning; therefore, be mindful of your aim.

 Today it is a day of resolutions.

 Doing is being, is what Ray Bradbury said:

To have done is not enough.

You cannot lay about, and lie about the things you might just do someday.

But do, to win the game.

 Great things are accomplished (and by great I mean great in any sphere: socially, professionally, personally, spiritually, privately), great things are arrived at, built, discovered through a series of small-regular and consistent steps.

 By the steady application of effort we can learn to do, and then ww can do just about anything…we can walk through fire or on the face of the moon.

 Resolve to do something this year; be resolute in your determination, see your target and steady your aim.

 If life is a river, it is a confluence of contradictions; the journey is necessary if you wish to arrive at your destination (at any destination); the process is just as important as the goal.

 The archer is not only concerned with the object of her aim but with the drawing of her bow, with the tension in the string, with her distance to the target and the currents in the wind.

 Prepare yourself so that you may understand these variables…they are always changing.

 Make 2024 a year in which hope for the future of America and her promise does not seem absurd, nor the extension of that hope to the entire world…365 Days from now, hope may be all there is left to us.

 Compassion, accountability, charity, honesty, integrity: call for these things, demonstrate your desire for them through the life you lead and listen to those in need of them; can you hear them crying in the wilderness…

 Today is the first day, it is a day for unity and common purpose.

 Today is a day of beginnings, a day for resolutions, a day for reflection and for joy.

 Today we stand on the fulcrum of a lever, between the past and future, looking forward toward our hopes as we consider the sum of our failures: war and famine, disease and ruin, all the things we strive for while we run our foolish errands. 

 Let each thing fall to its proper place as you move toward your desired end.