Annus Horribilus

This is the time of year when pundits review the year that is sagging into the sunset and look forward to the new one by making some predictions. Well, I'm not a pundit so I'm not going to do that.

I remember a few years back when Queen Elizabeth referred to the year just past as her Annus Horribilus. I though she was breaking royal protocol and describing an embarrassing medical condition... But she was of course, saying that sophisticated way of hers that it had been a horrible year. This one has been pretty bad. Iraq has been the only bright spot. Nobody called that one.

So much for review. Arnaud De Borchgrave has written very pessimistic article reviewing predictions of a dystopic future for the US. I don't want to dwell on such negativity so I will merely provide the link.

The Western Wall in Jerusalem is where they write prayers down, fold them up and insert them between the stones. This is not a Wailing Wall, but I do want to lay down a few prayers for the new year:

- For President Obama, that God may guide him in all things
- For peace, please Lord, somewhere, anywhere, but most of all in our hearts, because that is where peace must begin
- For the citizens and politicians of the United States, that we learn enduring lessons from the financial ruin we have brought upon ourselves
- That we may reacquaint ourselves with the Founding Fathers and the ideals they held dear
- That we look to our Creator, giving thanks and asking for guidance
- For the unemployed, that their troubled road be short

Happy 2009 and may God bless us in the New Year!