January 12, 2004
A Bonnie New Year To All
2003 – A Year To Remember
At last, 2003 has passed as the virgin year beckons. 2003 had many moments of joy, sadness, regret, and shame. This was the year we went to war on false pretenses. A time when our leaders eroded the US Constitution. When our troops captured an evil dictator and hopefully sent a signal that our boys would soon be home. It was a year when the media made Jessica Lynch a war hero, only to find out later her heroics were a myth.
It was a year when everything we bought was made in China and our industrial leaders sent thousands of jobs to the Far East. A year when the leader of the New York Stock Exchange, who was applauded for getting the exchange up and running after 9/11, was forced from office, becoming the symbol for corporate greed. This was the year America’s most famous housewife was indicted for insider trading; when major corporate leaders fell like ten pins after having been exposed for their crooked deeds; and when Libya’s Khadafy offered his mea culpa seeking to re-enter the commercial mainstream.
In Richmond, we almost lost our firehouse. We saw the City spend $100,000.00 on a gambling study only to see the Indians turn their tails and abandon us. We saw the City emptying the City Hall to take up temporary quarters at the rate of $100,000 a month when they are essentially bankrupt. It was a year when City Administrators left their jobs like rats abandoning a sinking ship.
It was a year when we recalled the old guard and elected a governor whose main claim to fame was his portrayal of a homicidal robot. It was a time when we cheered our lawmakers for ending Spam, only to see it preempted and eroded by Congressmen bowing to special interests. It was a year when we discovered that the State was billions of dollars in the red and that the amount of money spent every year on a single prison inmate in our prisons is enough to send them to Harvard instead--yet education and welfare had their scrawny necks on the chopping block as a potential remedy for the crisis.
It was a year to say goodbye to beloved local filmmaker Nicolas Armington. More adieus to comedian Bob Hope, politician Dan Moynihan, actress great Katherine Hepburn, noted director Elia Kazan, newscaster David Brinkley, noted actors Gregory Peck, John Ritter, dancer Donald O’Connor, singer Johnny Cash, Art Carney, Fred Rogers and Gregory Hines. We finally saw an end to the infamous despot Idi Amin, the father of the Atom Bomb Edward Teller and the controversial Strom Thurmond. Some will be missed and others will live on in infamy.
2003 ushered in a hope that the jobs would return, that the economy would turn around, our boys would come home, and that our politicians would be able to balance their budgets. We have our wish lists that give us strength to commit to another year. Perhaps this will be the year that our dreams will be fulfilled and peace will reign once more. You never know.
What does it all mean in the long run? Not much really, just another chapter in the book of the Twenty-first Century as we all speedily race along to meet our makers.