January 2002

2001 was not a great year.  I say that for many reasons.  There is no need to go
into specifics, but I will say that on a personal level, the year 2001 brought a
number of extraordinary calamities and setbacks into my life.  I think this holds
true collectively for us as country too.  We started the year off in a mess over
who had won our presidential election, then of course there are the attacks
on September 11th, and as a result of those attacks, we end 2001 uncertain of
the future.  You see, 9/11 took away more than several thousand innocent lives
-- it took away our sense of safety, and it hurt our confidence in the future.  The
chips have fallen, so to speak, and now we go into 2002 unsure of what to expect.

That having been said, I overcame my personal setbacks in 2001, and I can
honestly say that I'm a better and stronger person for it.  I believe that as a
country, we will also overcome the challenges we face, we will win the fight, and
we will be a stronger nation for it.  Rather than back away from the adversity we
face as a nation, I believe we should embrace it, for it is an opportunity to rebuild
our confidence in the future, and make it even stronger than it was before.

So I'd like to start off 2002 on a note of cautious optimism.  Cautious, because
we do have some pretty serious challenges to tackle.  It won't be easy, and we
will probably make some mistakes along the way.  But I'm optimistic nonetheless,
because this is America, and history shows that time after time, Americans rise
to the occasion, do what needs to be done, and prevail.

In keeping with the theme of optimism, then, I offer the following two photos which
show that every now and then, there is still justice in the world:

Justice . . .

. . . served!

Happy New Year!