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Photo Credit: Detlev Van Ravenswaay - Science Photo Library
A Fresh Start
"Cheers to a new year and another
chance for us to get it right."
- Oprah Winfrey
The year has turned and with it comes a rush of new of possibilities! There is an optimism in the air that I haven't felt for many years. It is as if we were all holding our breath for a decade or two and now breathing suddenly comes more easily. There is energy a plenty to take on the troubles we face both individually and collectively as well as to make a difference in our lives, our country and across our magnificent planet.
Photo credit: Michael Sloan
This New Year, I am catapulted back to a memory. It was 2004 and I met my very first polar bear. The moment happened on a ramshackle school bus that was transporting us from the town of Churchill, Manitoba to our tundra buggy. The driver slowed down and there, right outside the bus window, was a bear resting in his day bed! Almost immediately, tears began to spill from my eyes. I had to hold my binoculars away from my face so as not to get them wet! The above photo was snapped from the window of the bus.
Now, nearly five years later, it is clear that we all are ready to take the steps to save them and us. The human mind is truly ingenious and when it serves the human heart, it is capable of wonders that can leave us breathless. It will take each one of our hearts and minds contributing their unique lights to illuminate this world. We know that the journey forward will not always be easy but we can do it. We have the heart for it, we have the mind for it and we have the energy of hope infusing our spirits and driving us forward.
The time of complacency is past. As we bring forth this New Year, we carry into it the ambition and passion to make things right. Our enterprise holds the promise of renewal for our planet's ecosystems and the promise of a richer future for our descendants. They call to us across the gulf of future time urging us to make the right choices. "Make our world beautiful!", they cry. And then they add, "We want to see the polar bears, too!"
Simultaneously, our ancestors are gleefully cheering us forward! "Yes!", they urge us from long lines stretching back into infinity. "Go on!", their ghostly forms roar. "You can do it!" "We believe in you!"
My wish for 2009 is that this year brings each of us all of the Love, Light, Wonder and Inspiration we require to bless our descendants and make our ancestors proud!
"We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves.
The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year's Day."
- Edith Lovejoy Pierce
- Evelyn
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