Connecting the Dots as with any good source of information likes to look back and have a review of the year gone by. There is a blend that makes it one of the most colorful years in a while, but far from the most enjoyable.
Starting off in January, it was the entire world that watched as Barack Obama took the oath of office for President of the United States. It did not matter if it was midnight where people were watching. Obama was not only the President of the US, he was a sign of hope and change the world was hungry for.
In February we saw the world was in a deeper economic mess than anyone wanted to admit, and as time wore on throughout the year, it was discovered it was even worse. The bright side was we discovered countries could come together and unite when faced with a common problem.
In March The full brunt of climate change could not be ignored. Some major tipping points had been reached and passed. The reality that a cascade effect was starting and little time remained before any human efforts to stem climate change would be futile. The planet was already committed to sea level rise amongst other things that essentially are part of natures efforts to correct the balance by eliminating a whole bunch of the infecting humans.
In April we discovered that no matter how advanced we think we are as humans nature still controls us. In April nature unleashed the H1N1 swine flu pandemic on us. Over the coming months a reality check for the most part put and end to the debate about our readiness to deal with the H5N1 Bird flu when it finally mutates to be human to human. It took us about 8 months to get up to speed on the less deadly H1N1, so the writing was on the wall and many just shut their mouths having been proven wrong and that tens of millions will die before we get a vaccine for the bird flu.
In May we started to see a shift in optimism about a early recovery from the economic downturn. Unemployment was still going up and stimulus money was being disbursed. People around the globe were doing their best to cope in the seemingly endless storm. On the political front Burma was once again showing it’s nasty side when Aung San Suu Kyi was arrested and put through a farce trial keeping her locked up even longer. The entire planet seemed to rally behind her as the world was reminded some bad people are in power.
In June We suddenly realized that any economic recovery can be quickly snuffed out with the sudden rise of crude oil prices without market cause. This reinforced the urgency to go green not only for the economy but for the planet and global warming. The people of Iran discovered that they were not living in a democracy but under a dictator. The resulting riots as a result of the rigged elections put a good face on Muslims as it showed the rest of the world that the behavior of hard line Muslims in not tolerated very well by Muslims.
There were other significant events in the first half of 2009 that are too numerous to mention. But there is one happy ending that involved a near disaster where a commercial aircraft was successfully ditched in the Hudson River and all survived. The need to have a hero was significant and this just seem to be what the doctor ordered. This event provided a needed distraction from the reality that for the moment the world really sucked for just about everyone.
Next Part 2
