Open Thread: Thoughts On Year Past And The New Year Just Begun

[Ed. note: Cross-posted to Vermont: Now and Zen.]

For those of us who are thoughtful - and who are not suffering with the effects of any potential excess indulged in at midnight - New Year's Eve and Day are often a time of serious reflection.

So let's start off today's posting with your observations, thoughts, hopes and dreams, disappointments and disasters (both real and perceived).

• What were your great and worst moments of 2006, personally or otherwise?
• What was the worst/best thing that happened (to you, your community, your country, your world)?
• What do you want out of 2007?
• Can you identify and share three events/changes/miracles you want to see this year?

Please add your comments here. I'll even jump start this:

Q: Great and worst moments of 2006?
A: Great:

1) Meeting and getting to know some extraordinary people, including some of you.

2) Having some people I respect extend themselves to me, including some of you as well as neighbors who had the occasion to tell me this year what a good neighbor I was and how much they appreciated me.

3) Discovering singer/songwriter Leonard Cohen and his hauntingly beautiful, "Hallelujah".

4) Reading some exceptional books (use links to read more or to order from Powells, a union bookstore), including:

* Jimmy Carter's "Peace, Not Apartheid"
* Barbara Ehrenreich's "Nickel and Dimed"
* Marc Estrin's "Insect Dreams: The Half Life of Gregor Samsa"
* Julia Cameron's "The Artist's Way"
* John Perkins' "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man"
* David Mamet's "South of The Northeast Kingdom" (about life where I live in Vermont where Mamet is my neighbor)
* John Dean's "Conservatives Without Conscience"
* Thom Hartmann's "Screwed: The Undeclared War Against The Middle Class"
* Eckhardt Tolle's "The Power of Now".

5) Being able to share with people who have less than I.

6) Finally hearing someone on network TV news (Keith Olbermann of "Countdown" on MSNBC) state some truths so much of the rest of the media cowers and hides from; Olbermann's many "Special Comments" have been powerful and extraordinary.

Worst:
1) Having the world as I knew it personally shatter around me, despite my best efforts to prevent it.
2) Feeling powerless to help people as much as I wanted.
3) Not getting a couple of jobs that just seemed perfect for me.
4) Losing a friend.
5) Suffering with a chemical depression that defies any form or combination of treatment.