2012

I hope 2012 is better than 2011, which for me and many of my friends has been one to forget.  Illnesses, injuries, deaths, weird financial happenings, and so on.

At the same time, as my visiting Dutch friend appropriately pointed out this evening, my friends and I are incredibly privileged.  We have the education and financial means to approach adversity with optimism for a real solution.  Most people can’t say that.

I spend some considerable time each year trying to reconcile my good fortune with the desperate lot of so many others, many of whom live close by.  I keep seeking ways to help and have long ago decided that trying to make a difference to many is an impossible task.  So I try to help a few individuals I know and to whom I can relate and talk. 

Every day I remind myself how lucky I am, lucky to have had parents who believed in a good education, lucky to have so often found myself at the right place at the right time, lucky to have a group of friends and relatives who care.  And I am so lucky to have stumbled after my retirement on a writing career that has far exceeded my wildest hopes and which has brought me into touch with a wonderful cadre of readers and writers. 

My participation in the Murder is Everywhere blog is especially enjoyable and rewarding – and humbling, as I look at the quality of my fellow bloggers’ writing.  Plus it is difficult for me to imagine a nicer and more caring group of people.

I wish you all a very happy 2012.  I hope you have a very healthy year and one that you can look back on with pleasure and satisfaction.

Thank you all for your support.

Stan - Thursday